


Can I Help You?

by wonufu



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: 95 liners confuse everyone, 98/99 liners are babies, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Funny, Growing Up, I can't write that, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Mutual Pining, No Smut, OH YEH, Pining, Slow Build, Swearing, and so on - Freeform, are jun and minghao best buddies or fuck buddies, dk knows everyones secrets, i planned this to be a long ass story, maybe woozi and hoshi are a thing, no one knows what hoshi and dk are, not in real life, so mingyu has a younger brother, wonwoo is an only child, woozi is platonic with chan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-02-18 23:03:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 64,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13110351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonufu/pseuds/wonufu
Summary: Wonwoo's past hurt him, badly, and Mingyu's willing to help him, of course with a lot of persistence, rejections, and acceptance. Not necessarily once, and not necessarily in that order. Oh yeah, there's also the part where they start catching feelings. And the cycle of persistence, rejections and acceptance repeats.The story where everyone bets on each other's relationships.a/n i will say like the first couple of chapters are kind of dry but I'm not going to rewrite them for reasons just have faith in me pls :)





	1. New School, New Opportunities, New Annoyances

There they stand before him. A line of bullies waiting to pick on the small child opposite him, leaning against the wall. No, he can’t let this happen, he can’t let them hurt this boy. Mom said hurting others isn’t the right thing to do. He runs towards the defenceless child and stops them from hurting him. At that moment, without him knowing it, he’s unravelled a timeless story. 

At that moment, he’s tied two unknowing fates together.

***

Mingyu walks down the halls of Marina high. This school, where he has survived years with most of these people. He’s spent most of his life with these same people, and they’ve all spent it with him. He’s one of the most known in the grade. Not just because of his good looks or academic results, but for the way he treats people. He’s, arguably, the “nice one” of the grade, which doesn’t bother him. He helps others, they help him. It’s a win-win situation. He even tends to help teachers out with various things, organising books, or events, returning books to the library, that kind of thing. It’s not hard to be nice to others, although he wishes he could tell that to some certain people in his grade…

“Mingyu! What time is it?”

Mingyu flips his head around as he sees a small figure form into the face of his best friend. Lee Jihoon, the otherwise complete opposite of Mingyu. If their friends say anything, it’s that Mingyu and Jihoon’s looks represent the others personality. It was a fun joke for a while, until Jihoon got sick of it and decided to rip their heads off. Not literally of course. He’s not that strong yet.

“We’ve got about 20 minutes until class. Why? Wanna get a shake? Or coffee?”

“Yeah let’s get a coffee, I can’t stand people in the morning.”

“So, I’ve seen…”

As Mingyu and Jihoon turn and head off to the corner store, they run into their close friend, Lee Seokmin, who is rushing, as always, to get to class on time.

“Oi Seok,” Jihoon shouts as he shakes his head, slightly amused, “we’ve got 20 minutes until class, why the rush?”

“I was planning to hand a paper in early, but my class is on the opposite side of Ms Jung’s office.”

“Ms Jung’s office? Mingyu’s got his next class near hers, give it to him.”

Seokmin rushes back, grabs out his report and neatly orders it before placing it in Mingyu’s hand, not that he had a say in the ordeal of course.

Mingyu looks at Jihoon, exasperated. “Thanks Ji, now I have to hand this in before class.”

“Well hey, you’re the nice one around here.”

They grab their coffees, pay and thank the cashier, and head back to school. There’s still 10 minutes until class, Mingyu had no idea why Seokmin even had to rush. But knowing Seokmin, he would probably find a way to be late.

Jihoon waves a goodbye to Mingyu as they split up to attend their classes. Mingyu has no idea why he took Higher Level Chemistry, because right now, it’s tearing his soul apart. He used to find it interesting, but now he’s not so sure if he can handle the stress, especially since his final exams next year, final exams, will include testing on Higher Level Chemistry. And his confidence is rapidly sapping. 

He takes out Seokmin’s paper and turns towards Ms Jung’s office to hand it in. Ms Jung’s office is in the main administration building, so Mingyu isn’t unfamiliar with it. As he steps into the building, he’s aware of a new student, carefully talking to the receptionist about directions. He passes him and heads off to the third door on the right, sees the tray in front of the desk and places the paper on top.

As he walks back out he sees the new student still there. He wonders if he should help him but overhears the student thanking the receptionist. No need. Instead, Mingyu heads off to his first class, the interesting subject that is Higher Level Chemistry.

***

Wonwoo’s shocked. It’s a pretty big school. Big enough anyway. Bigger than his old school. His old school. Old because he finally made the move. He’s glad, so glad that he finally got out of there, just being surrounded by bullies every hour of his school day.

He’s broken free.  
And now he’s lost.  
In his new school.  
New school…

New opportunities. He can hear people talking and playing with each other, it’s surprisingly refreshing. He hasn’t been able to freely walk around a school in a while, and hearing squeals of delight in a school ground gives him some kind of hope for the future.

He sees a building labelled administration and immediately heads there. Can’t go wrong with administration, right? As he walks up to the receptionist’s desk, he steels himself and makes sure his voice is working.

“Um… hi? Sorry, I’m, uh, I’m a new- I just transferred here, I need um… Sorry. I need help fi- “

“Finding your classes?” Wonwoo nods. “No problem, honey. Here, there’s always students like you, so I keep little print outs of the school.” She hands him a piece of paper and starts pointing to buildings as Wonwoo tries to wrap his head around them. B Block, D Block, F Block… He hears the doors open behind him as a teacher, presumably, walks past him and to a teacher’s office. The receptionist finishes up scribbling the names of buildings over the sheet on the table and hands it to Wonwoo, as if expecting it to help. He thanks the lady for kindly helping him but still wonders if he can possibly walk around the school in 10 minutes to find his class.

As he’s thanking the lady, the man walks back. Only it’s not a teacher as he thought, it’s definitely a student. He still has that youthful look in his eyes. Maybe a senior then, he can’t be far off from graduating, that’s for sure. Wonwoo sees him exit the building and follows him out. He goes back to looking at the map and trying to remember anything useful he can, but nothing happens. Yeah, he definitely needs help.

“Sorry, excuse me?” The student’s head turns around fast. Wonwoo can see this boy is handsome, handsome to him at least. The boy’s hair is styled in a comma shape, one part swept to the side while the other flicks up on his forehead, and shows comparison with his tan skin. He’s very tall, tall enough that Wonwoo mistook him for a teacher, and looks lean enough to be an athletic person, maybe he plays sports. “Can you help me find this classroom?”

“Oh sure, it’s actually right across this courtyard. See that building there?” His voice is deep, not as deep as Wonwoo’s but deep enough, and he talks with a sense of authority. Definitely nearing graduation. “That’s your building, and you’ll find the classroom as you walk in, they’re all labelled on the doors. I’m assuming you’re new, so I’ll give you a familiar face. My name is Mingyu.”

“My name is Wonwoo.”

“Wonwoo? Pretty name.”

“Thanks.”

“Well, good luck getting around. The first week is probably hardest, but you’ll get used to it soon enough.” And with that, he salutes Wonwoo with a grin and walks off. Weird kid…

Wonwoo walks to the building pointed out to him and finds his classroom. He goes in and settles for his first class, praying to the god of being an introvert that he doesn’t get called out the front.

***

Finally. Lunch. Mingyu heads out towards his usual spot, on the left side of the cafeteria, closest to the doors. He doesn’t exactly know why they picked that spot, only that he’s been sitting there as long as he’s been attending Marina high. As he was friends with Jihoon, and Jihoon was friends with a guy in an older grade, Seungcheol, he brought them to Seungcheol’s table, which has now been the home to many lunch time memories.

“Hey Cheol, not fair! You said I could have the chips today.”

“I said only if you were good Jihoon, and knowing you, you weren’t.”

“Excuse me! I was-”

“He got a detention during history for asking too many bullshit questions” In comes the, yet again late, life of the conversation, Seokmin. “Jihoon, how do you think a history teacher is suppose to answer “What happens to history when computers take over the world, will they erase ours or write their own?” like seriously man.”

“I was dead set curious ok. The computer race is coming for us.”

“Yeah, never.”

“Just you wait Seok, they will prove you wrong.”

“Even if they do, you won’t have time to tell me “told you so” because their rusty little parts would’ve already taken you alive.”

“Taken me alive my ass-“

“And that,” Seungcheol swiftly cuts in, “Is why you don’t get the chips today.”

Jihoon results to slumping in his chair and eating the bland cafeteria food. Mingyu joins him in eating the bland food and laughs with Seokmin as he tries to imitate one of the many birds found outside the cafeteria walls. He’s thoroughly enjoying himself when he manages to catch a glimpse of a dark figure slinking in through the doors near them. It’s the new kid from earlier. He mentions the new kids arrival to the others as he remembers the exchange between them.

***

“Sorry, excuse me? Can you help me find this classroom?” The deep voice immediately grabs Mingyu’s attention as he turns around. He finally gets a look at the new student. His slanted eyes look up to him and his hair falls in front of them, slightly covering them. They cover the tops of his ears too, and Mingyu can immediately sense this guy. He’s not much of a talker.

“Oh sure, it’s actually right across this courtyard. See that building there? That’s your building, and you’ll find the classroom as you walk in, they’re all labelled on the doors. I’m assuming you’re new, so I’ll give you a familiar face. My name is Mingyu.” He tries sounding as casual as he can to help the new student, but they still look a bit flustered. Maybe he was a bit too much, forcing the “familiar face” thing on him right then.

“My name is Wonwoo.” 

“Wonwoo? Pretty name.”

“Thanks.”

“Well, good luck getting around. The first week is probably hardest, but you’ll get used to it soon enough.” And with that, he saluted the new student and headed off to his own class.

***

He sees him walk into line, head down, not talking to anyone. Well, it is his first day. It’s not like Mingyu expected him to be surrounded by people. Mingyu lets it go knowing the kid will probably have friends soon. He didn’t even know what year this guy was in. He hadn’t been in his Chemistry or Psychology class, but that may just be due to the amount of classes they have in their year. Or maybe he’s a senior already? Pretty risky, moving school’s during senior year, however not impossible. Maybe the boy is older than him. Mingyu isn’t exactly the oldest in his group but he tends to feel older than most, whether it’s due to his height or something else he doesn’t know. It’s best not to assume.

He watches the kid wait in line, grab some food, and head straight out. He doesn’t even look around for friends. Mingyu finds that pretty sad, but decides it’s his life. He goes back to the conversation at hand…

“…Lamb is beef. Wait.”

“Lamb isn’t beef you moron, cow is beef.”

“I thought cow was pork.”

“Seok are you listening to yourself. Pig is pork, cow is beef, lamb is mutton.”

“MUTTON!”

“Why are you shouting mutton in the cafeteria! Shut up and eat your lunch, fool.”

“I’m going to eat my mutton.”

“It’s beef, Seok.”

“Hey you know what, if two vegetarians get in a fight, is that still beef?”

“I’m so done.”

Seungcheol laughs horrendously at Seokmin’s joke as Seokmin looks at Jihoon waiting for a reaction. Jihoon, as always, just looks away disgusted, which is enough of a reaction for Seokmin. Mingyu shakes his head at his friends as he continues to chow down on his bland cafeteria food.

***

Cafeteria food is a blessing Wonwoo does not ever want again. He always thought it would be cool to line up with a tray, sit down with a bunch of friends and eat cafeteria food, as it was one luxury his high school bullies did not allow. However, after shocking recent circumstances, he takes that back. At least he can eat now, alone. That’s all he ever wanted, to be left alone. After a couple years of the same bullies taunting him, watching his every move and never letting him have his space he began to seek for privacy. Now he has it.

He finds a bin and quickly dumps the food, making a mental note to make lunches for himself again. Then, he uses the rest of the lunch break to walk around the school. He’ll memorise the buildings better that way. Most of the buildings paint is peeling off, and ragged plants seem to line the bottoms of everyone of them. The walls are a beige colour, and look sun dried. Despite this, it feels nostalgic for Wonwoo. Antique. He likes it very much. 

He walks around a bit more when he finally finds it. The library. He was starting to wonder how long it would take to find a library in a school. He walks in and starts pacing the aisles of pages that hold endless stories. Stories he’s missed for a long time. After years of his bullies following him and making life a living hell, the only escape he had was to dart off to the library. No cool kid was ever in the library, so he was safe from virtually everyone. That’s where he found his home.

This library is relatively bigger than his old one, which puts a smile on his face. More stories to read. It’s become a part of him now, to read as many books as he can. He bows to the passing librarian as he stands in one of the fiction aisles. He feels like escaping for now, so he goes to find a dystopian world he can indulge in. He grabs a book and plops himself on a beanbag near the corner of the building. From this corner, there’s a window across the room which overlooks other buildings in the school and a part of the courtyard, but from the exterior Wonwoo knows they can’t look in. It gives him a stronger sense of privacy. Looks like he’s already found his place at this school.

He starts reading and gets carried away in the book. Forget about roaming around the school, he’s found the one building that matters, and he would prefer to stay here. He reads until he feels a tap on his shoulder and looks up.

“Honey, there’s 5 minutes until class, you may want to grab your books and head off before you’re late.”

5 minutes already? Well, that’s the magic of a good book. He thanks the lady and quickly gets up, puts the book back, remembering the title so he can come back later, and walks out of the building. He quickly skirts back around the building to his locker, the one place he knows by now, and grabs out his timetable and map. 

“M Block? How many freaking blocks are there-“

“Need help?”

A skinny guy comes up to him, smiling too bright for Wonwoo to comprehend. 

“Yes thanks.” He shows him the way to his building and Wonwoo thanks him and heads off. He walks into his classroom, and with a surprise, sees the teacher/student guy who gave him directions earlier that morning.

“Mr Jeon I presume?” The teacher looks over to him and the whole class follows. Oh god. He simply nods his head. “Welcome to your new English class! You can sit in the spare desk up the back, next to Jaehyun and Jieun.”

Wonwoo heads over to the desk which is presumably next to Jaehyun and Jieun. He has no idea why teachers say “next to so on and so on”, especially to new students. It’s not like he knows who those people are. He sits down and gets his books out, only to realise he can’t see the board. Not because he has bad eyesight (although he does need contacts) but because there’s a big head in the way.

He sighs. It could be worse than this. Before he starts to slump back though, the head turns around.

“Hey, Wonwoo right? I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Mingyu. Looks like we’re classmates! Yay!” Wonwoo sees the taller smile the same goofy smile he did this morning. He hesitates before returning it and bowing his head at him. “Also, can you see the board? I’m a bit tall.” 

A bit? “No, it’s fine don’t worry.” Wonwoo doesn’t need to bother him, he can always lean around anyways.

“Oh ok.” The taller smiles and turns around to start listening to the teacher, but not before slumping in his chair so that Wonwoo can see over his head. Whether it’s on purpose or not he doesn’t know, but he silently thanks him. So Mingyu is in the same year as him? That’s weird, he thought he must have been a senior. Well, at least he’ll get to see the boy graduate.

He too turns to the board and starts listening to the teacher talk about his favourite subject.

***

Finally, the end of school bell rings. Mingyu stands up and stretches his limbs, preparing to go home. He packs up his books, quite slowly, and stands to head off when the teacher calls him.

“Mingyu! Sorry, I know you’re heading home but would you mind sending these books off to the library? I would really appreciate it.”

“Sure thing Miss.” He rearranges his own books so he can carry the ones the teacher gives him. The teacher then gives him a look of thanks and goes to pick up her own papers as Mingyu heads out to the library. He gets there in no time and places the stack on the bench in front of the librarian.

“Dear, sorry but could you return them to the aisles? I’ve just got some more books here that I’m scanning out.”

“No problem, I’ll return those two if you’d like?”

“That would be wonderful, thank you!”

The librarian scans out the books and places them all on a trolley. In all honesty, the trolley is half the reason Mingyu’s doing this. He likes wheeling it around. The librarian thanks him again as he rolls down the aisles looking for the book’s homes.

After he’s put most of them away, he gets to the last aisle with 3 books left. He turns to pick one of them up to put it on the bottom shelf when he sees a foot at the end of the aisle. Well, he thinks it’s a foot. He stands up again and rolls the trolley closer. Yeah, definitely a foot. He goes back to putting the second last book back on the shelf and rolls closer. He finally puts the last book back and goes to approach the foot’s owner.

“Wonwoo?”

He must have been deep in the book he was reading because the poor boy jumps a bit and looks up to Mingyu, startled. He looks relatively comfy, sitting in the bean bag leaning against the corner with no one in sight, but he also looks alone.

“We keep seeing each other, isn’t this surprising?”

Wonwoo just stares at him.

“So is that a no...”

He silently nods and Mingyu smiles at him and sits down next to him, to which Wonwoo pulls the book closer to himself.

“What are you reading?”

Wonwoo looks down. “Just a random book.”

“Oh. That’s nice. Is it good?” He gets a quick nod. “You don’t talk much do you?” Wonwoo looks down at his book and reads. Hmm.

“Maybe it’s fate that I keep seeing you, like we’re suppose to become friends!” To which Wonwoo looks at the boy in confusion. Mingyu’s starting to think he’s annoying the student.

“Hey Wonwoo, I was thinking, do you want to come sit with me and my friends? At lunch? We can all become friends and hang out together, I promise you. They’re good people and won’t ever leave you behind.” Wonwoo looks at him in surprise and starts to relax his hold on the book.

“Maybe.”

“Well that’s great-“

“Can you grab a book for me?”

“Oh, yeah sure! What book?”

“Any book in the non-fiction section.” Weird request.

“Ok, be right back!”

Mingyu heads off towards the non-fiction aisles across the building. He’s not surprised he hasn’t been lost in the library, he’s returned the books to the shelves that many times, but to anyone else it would be easy to get lost in these aisles. Maybe Wonwoo got lost at the back corner there, he might have to help guide him out.

He takes his time finding an interesting non-fiction book about the mechanics of planes. He picks it up and quickly heads back to Wonwoo’s corner. As he rounds towards the aisle, he sees the boy is gone. He looks around confused, until he goes to the counter.

“Yeah, that boy borrowed the book a couple minutes ago and left.” Oh. So he left. Maybe Mingyu was annoying him too much…

He’ll have to find him and apologise. Tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok hi :)  
> This is my first time writing so, please be nice to me  
> I haven't finished writing it because it's going to be a long story, but it's all planned out  
> reason for posting now is I'm afraid I may lose motivation, but knowing that people are reading it will definitely make me write more  
> Also sorry if this chapter is bland, don't give up more exciting things happen later  
> Might post the next chapter later today or tmr, might not  
> This story is also split up into four parts, two parts high school two parts college, and I'm not sure how long each part is  
> If you end up here and finish with me at the end I will fully applaud you because that will be amazing  
> Anyways thanks for reading :)  
> P.S. comments are very much appreciated :)))


	2. Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mingyu tries to understand Wonwoo, but Wonwoo's not having it.

Wonwoo takes off his shoes as he gets home from school. The afternoon had him stressing. He doesn’t need friends to talk to, especially people like Mingyu. He’s nice and all, but Wonwoo really just wants to be left alone. He grips his bag as he climbs the stairs two at a time, opens his door, and flops on his bed. 

He gets out his laptop ready to study, even though it’s only the first day, he doesn’t want to fall behind. While that’s setting up, he takes out the book he borrowed and places it on his bedside table. Once his computer’s ready, he starts studying while playing his music.

After an hour or two, he hears his mother calling him downstairs for dinner. He heads downstairs to the smell of delicious lasagne wafting through the small house.

“Mom it smells amazing.”

“Thanks Won, can you help set up the table, I need to get your father down here. Bloody workaholic.”

Wonwoo smiles as his mother goes to grab his father. He lays out three sets of cutlery and goes to serve the plates to his parents when they come. Wonwoo goes to sit down across from his mom as she starts to question him.

“ So, how’s the new school so far Won? Exciting? You made any friends yet? How are your classes?”

His father laughs. “Let the poor boy answer your question before giving him another one, dear.” He shakes his head and puts another forkful of lasagne in his mouth.

Wonwoo quickly swallows down his food and answers. “The school is good. It’s a really big place, I actually got a bit lost.”

His mother nods her head in engagement, “But you found your way?” 

“Yeah. My classes are good so far, I didn’t get called up the front too many times so there’s that.”

“Aw Won, no need to be shy.”

“Dear,” His dad interjects, “He’s never been as talkative as you, I’m sure it’s quite different for him.”

“Well, I’m not expecting him to be as talkative as me, I’m just saying it’s alright to stand up in front of others now. It’s a new school Won! You should make the most of it and get to know your fellow classmates.”

Wonwoo’s thoughts immediately go to Mingyu. It’s not that he was the only one to introduce himself today, but he was the only one to constantly do it. If Wonwoo wanted to be left alone, then this kid was not the type he was to be friends with. Mingyu seemed determined to give Wonwoo exactly what he did not want, peace and serenity.

“Yeah I know, mom. I’ll try.”

“Good. You can bring over friends anytime you want, just as long as you let us know beforehand, ok?”

“Yeah, ok.”

With that, his mom and dad start bickering about appliance sales and Wonwoo continues to eat, lulling into a daydream about a time where he had friends.

***  
The beep of the microwave wakes Mingyu up from his daydream. He goes over and takes out the steaming box that is last night’s dinner. His parents aren’t home much, always at work or a conference overseas. Not that Mingyu minds, he still sees them. Every special occasion they come back, his or his little brother’s birthday, Christmas especially, usually staying through until New Year’s Day. It’s just, other than those days, phone calls and text messages, he doesn’t talk to his parents at all. 

Instead, he looks after his little brother, Minsoo, who’s just turned 10. Mingyu adores him. He’s always got a smile on his face no matter what, especially if mom and dad are around. Right now Minsoo’s at a friends house for the night, so Mingyu has the house all to himself.

He goes and sits down with his hot dinner in front of tv, careful not to spill any on the floor. He starts flicking through the channels to try and find something interesting, although there’s not really much on tonight. He turns the tv off and goes to get his computer. YouTube it is.

He’s about to grab his computer and head out of his room when he gets a call from Seokmin.

“Hey Seok, what’s up?”

“Did we have homework?”

“Which class?”

There’s a pause. “All of them.”

“You’re not in some of my classes.”

“All the classes I have with you then.”

“We only had to finish reading the powerpoints for psych and the activity on the Symbiotic theory for bio.”

There’s another pause. “What’s that?”

“Seok. Seriou- you know what just come to my house.”

“Cool thanks.” Then the call abruptly ends. 

Mingyu grabs his laptop and heads downstairs when he hears a knock on the door. Surely that can’t be…

“Seok? How did you get here so fast?”

Seokmin looks up him, grinning. “Well you see, I was already here.” He knew it. Mingyu just shakes his head, laughing, and lets the boy in.

The boy smells the air as the smell of Mingyu’s dinner fills the small room. “Oh, what’s for dinner?”

“Rice and chicken.”

“I love chicken.”

“There’s some in the fridge if you want.”

“Thanks!” Seokmin heads over to the fridge and takes some out, putting it on a plate and heating it up in the microwave. He’s come to Mingyu’s house that many times, he practically lives in it. “By the way, where’s Minsoo?”

“At a friends house.”

“Aw. I wanted to see the little fella. Does he miss me?”

Mingyu huffs. “Of course he misses you, you literally dumped a bucket of water on his older brother’s head just to amuse him.”

The two boys finish eating first, then head up to Mingyu’s room. Mingyu gets out all his books and sees Seokmin doing the same. Mingyu goes to load up the PowerPoints from today’s psychology class and the activity on Symbiotic theory.

“Ok Seok, do you remember the teacher talking about this in Bio?” He shakes his head. 

He sighs. This is going to be a long night.

***

Wonwoo’s starting to like his classes.

He can concentrate better here than he ever did at his old school, in fact, he thinks he can ace them. They’re actually interesting and despite what other students think about he, he finds that he enjoys learning.

The only distraction he has is Kim Mingyu.

Earlier in History (yes, they have another class together, what joy) Wonwoo was happy sitting on the furthest side of the class. That was until the tree walked in and sat next to him, and starting apologising. Why? God, Wonwoo doesn’t know. After a couple minutes of apologising he went back to talking to Wonwoo and asking if he wants to sit with them. Even after Wonwoo pulled out his book and started reading.

Like he said. The guy is nice, but he needs to take a hint.

He doesn’t necessarily want to be rude, so he just tells him that he would take him up on his offer. If he ever needed to. Then he slightly bows his head and turns to his book, flicking the page to show he started reading again. That seems to settle the tree. For a while. 

Before Wonwoo knows it, Mingyu is back. Talking and trying to converse with him. Wonwoo really doesn’t want to be rude with the guy, but he’s starting to get on his nerves.

“What’s one of your favourite moments in history?” What kind of question is that? He continues “Mine’s the French revolution.” 

Actually, Wonwoo finds the French revolution to be pretty interesting, the way the people revolt against the King and Queen for freedom, and their motto. Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity-

“-Because they behead the Queen and King.” What kind of sane reason is that. Just as he was starting to think the guy was normal. “Ok maybe that was a bit harsh, the “Let them eat cake” part was cool too.”

“That’s nice.”

“You spoke!” He turns more towards Wonwoo as Wonwoo slightly turns towards him.

“Of course I can speak, I asked you a question yesterday.”

“No I mean of course, I knew you could speak, just you haven’t spoken to me much. Did I give you the wrong directions?”

“No.”

“Oh. Do you just not talk much in general?”

“Look-“

“Whoever’s talking back there, I hope you know your history back to front and don’t need to take this class in order to ace your exams.” The teachers shrill voice immediately makes Wonwoo and Mingyu face forward. They don’t get the chance to talk again for the rest of that lesson.

During lunch Wonwoo’s decided to go back to the library. Although he loves this building already, he prays to god that Mingyu won’t come here. Although, after that conversation in class, he feels like the tree isn’t done yet. Wonwoo’s walking down the halls as they fill with students. Unfortunately, in his rush to get to the library, he full on bumps into a student, knocking their books onto the ground everywhere.

Wonwoo quickly ducks down to help the boy gather his books again. “Oh no, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Don’t worry, it’s alright. Messing these papers up will probably make more sense to me now then they did before.”

“Not keen on English?”

The student purses his lips and shakes his head. “Not one bit.”

Wonwoo thinks that if he can do anything to gain a friend here, he can at least try to help with subjects he’s good at. “Hey, My name’s Wonwoo. If you need help in English, I wouldn’t mind helping you out with it.”

The boy’s eyes light up as he starts nodding his head. “That would help so much! My name’s Hansol by the way. Or Vernon. People call me whatever they want, I answer to both.” 

“Sure.”

“I’m in year 10 by the way, what year are you?”

“Year 11.” The younger smiles up at him. They exchange phone numbers in case Vernon needs to ask for help, and the two part ways with a wave. Wonwoo feels relatively good about himself, and smiles as he walks off to the library. Now his mom can’t complain about not making friends. 

He heads off to the library to find his favourite corner. He again greets the librarian and goes to sit on the beanbag. Only to halt.

Because the tree’s already sitting on it.

“Hi!” The tree waves as he sees Wonwoo approaching. Should he be mean and turn back… No, ok he’s not that mean. But really, how clingy can someone get. And why him?

“Mingyu, look-“

“I’m sorry if I annoyed you yesterday.”

Wonwoo looks at him confused. “Annoyed how?”

“You know, I’m a bit too extra. Especially since you’re new and I don’t know you very well.” That’s an understatement.

“So, you thought to apologise for being annoying and not leaving me alone…you’d be further annoying and not leave me alone?” 

At that Mingyu stands up and shakes his head. “No, see that’s why I came, to apologise and ask you about yourself. So I can know how to, you know, not be annoying in the future.”

Wonwoo thinks for a moment. The tree only hangs around him so he can know how to not annoy him. So, if he tells him to leave him alone, would that work, or just make him push on to find another way.

“Mingyu. I see what you’re trying to do, and really I know you mean well. But I honestly want to be left alone.” Mingyu seems to listen to that, so he continues, “And I know you want to be friends with everyone and that must include the new kid, but I really would just prefer sitting here. With a book. Alone.”

Mingyu closes his mouth and digests the information. Wonwoo internally winces at his words, but he really doesn’t know when the message will get through to him.

“I don’t want to just get close with you because you’re the new kid. I, hmm, this sounds weird.” Wonwoo walks closer to Mingyu as he talks, which makes Mingyu stop talking. Only to realise he’s stealing back his beanbag, which is still behind Mingyu. Mingyu moves and Wonwoo sits down with his book.

“Continue.”

A confused Mingyu continues. “Well, one reason why I’m good at talking with people is because, I sense them.”

“Sense them?”

“That sounds weird, what I mean is, I can see through people very well. Qualities they have, personalities, different ways they behave and so forth. Nothing trained, just feeling.” Wonwoo nods at this, listening. “And with you… I felt myself.”

“Felt… yourself?”

“That again sounds wrong but that’s not what I mean. What I meant is, your insecurities are likewise to mine, your personality is similar to mine, only that we both have different approaches.”

“Ah. Well, right now, I’m content with my approach. And I would like to be left alone.” At this, Mingyu’s shoulders deflate. Looks like he can’t convince the boy after all.

“I see. Well, I’ll be off then. Just remember, if you ever change your mind,” He looks down at the boy with sincerity, “Please consider me as your first friend.” And with that, he walks away. 

That was roughly easier than Wonwoo thought it would be. At least the tree respected him enough to leave him alone. Now he can go on reading without the threatening image of Mingyu sneaking up on him anymore.

***

“Mingyu? What were you doing in the library?”

Jihoon walks up to Mingyu as he’s exiting the library. He’s a bit hurt from the conversation taken place, but he understands Wonwoo a bit more now. He’s a person who thinks solitude is enough for him. Well, despite Wonwoo’s thoughts, he doesn’t think that’s the right answer for him. And he’s going to prove to Wonwoo that he’s much better with friends than without.

“I was just putting some books back.”

“Well hurry up. Seok bought some chillis, from where who knows, and now he’s daring Seungcheol to eat a whole bunch.”

“What’s in it for Seungcheol?”

“Something worth eating a bunch of chillis for.” Jihoon pulls Mingyu over to the cafeteria so he can witness the spectacle for himself. As they’re heading over, Jihoon notices his friends slightly off behaviour.

“Hey Mingyu, something wrong?”

Yes, there was. Despite wanting to show Wonwoo he would be a good friend, he doesn’t know how to go about it. If he approaches him, he’ll get turned away. If he leaves him be then nothing will happen. He’ll think about it later he says to himself, as he straightens up before answering.

“No, nothing’s wrong Ji.”

***

The rest of the day went well for Wonwoo. No sign of Mingyu in the library, so he actually got to read all of lunch and for a few hours after school. He thinks his words might’ve gotten through to the boy. Wonwoo’s walking home in the dark, but he doesn’t mind. Gives him a good half an hour of thinking time before going back home and studying. Mostly these days, school consumes his thoughts. His old school, his new school. But he hasn’t really thought about the town. 

He only moved here a month before, so it’s still fairly new to him. However, he adapts to change pretty well, and already seems to know his way around. As he walks he labels off checkpoints on his way home. There’s the corner store, the cinemas, the botanic gardens, the park next to it, and a couple other stores. He heads into a more urban part of town and now follows the lines of houses up to his one.

He strides up the stairs of his house, a repeat of yesterday, takes off his shoes and goes up the stairs to his own room. It isn’t that cold yet, so he opens the windows in his room to get a bit of fresh air. Talking about fresh air, his room is a bit stuffy. Maybe he should clean it…

He doesn’t want to be that student, but he ultimately decides that cleaning takes priority over homework, for now. He did get on top of homework yesterday though, so he should be fine. He goes over to his desk to straighten it out. Only that it’s already neat. Damnit. Ok, clothes. He takes a look in his wardrobe. Yeah, here’s something he can spend hours procrastinating on. He goes to work sorting out the clothes on both his bed and thrown in the wardrobe.

As he’s picking out the clothes from the floor of the wardrobe, he comes across a box collecting dust. Dad must’ve moved it into his room. He goes to dismiss it, but then realises it says something. It says his name on the front. Wonwoo, curious to see what’s inside, goes to open the box. 

And out pops a rabbit.

Not a real rabbit of course, but Wonwoo’s toy rabbit, from kindergarten. It’s old and worn, but Wonwoo can still remember the memories tied with it. Playing with it at lunch time. Cuddling with it at nap time. Sometimes sharing it with his friend. 

His friend.

Probably the only friend Wonwoo had came from his childhood memories. He’s not even sure if the kid was real or a figment of imagination, since he never remembered growing up with him. He simply vanished from Wonwoo’s life. 

Maybe that’s why the bullies targeted him. Not because he didn’t have friends, but because he imagined things others couldn’t see. Oh well, he’s grown past that stage in his life. He’s grown past the bullies. But maybe he hasn’t grown past keeping to himself. Not yet anyways.

Maybe that Mingyu kid was right. Maybe, to truly leave everything behind, he should get over himself and start to find some friends. Maybe. There’s always time, but right now, Wonwoo enjoys the time to himself. He enjoys being able to walk around the school, the town, and not feel suffocated every step he takes. Those bullies made it a living hell...

***

“Where does he think he’s going without us?”

He hears the bullies say as they crowd around and snicker at him as he tries to scurry out of school unnoticed, but they noticed him. They always do.

Why does it have to be him? He’s only in year 7 and these boys have kept this up for over 5 years. Why can’t they just leave him alone.

The boys start stalking him as quickly races around the block. The same routine as always. His house is not far from the school at all, but he doesn’t want them knowing where he lives. So instead, he takes the detour around a couple blocks, walking further from his house, and then slips into one of the alleyways to the point where the boys can only stand and mock him from the street, thinking his house must be on the other side of the alley. Instead, he just waits until they all leave, and then cautiously retraces his steps, making sure the bullies have gone their own ways. He remembers that time when they all stayed behind at one of the shop fronts and chased him back down the alley. That wasn’t pleasant, he had to wait an extra hour, just to get home.

He walks out and sees they’re all gone. Good, he can go home in peace. Home to study and sleep, then wake up tomorrow and be plagued by the bullies the moment he steps foot in that school…

***

 

He packs up the toy, along with his memories, into the box and moves it back to the floor of his wardrobe. He continues to rummage through his clothes, occasionally setting some aside to throw out, he had a bit of a growth spurt over the break, and mulls thoughts over in his head. 

Eventually he decides, when he’s ready, he’ll take Mingyu up on that offer. That is, if Mingyu listens to him and leaves him alone for a while, then he’ll know he can trust him. Wonwoo knows he can’t live forever without friends, he’s not that unreasonable.

But he’s going to indulge in solitude for as much time as he can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, second posted  
> I was wondering, do you guys like longer posts or shorter posts? With shorter posts I may be able to do them more frequently but longer posts will have more quality  
> idk so far I'm gonna stick with what I've got


	3. Second Chances and White Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seokmin starts a club, Wonwoo helps Mingyu and Jihoon starts playing detective.

He stands before the line of bullies, in front of the child. The bullies, unaccustomed to others stepping in, back away from the two and eventually let them be. The boy standing over the other turns around and introduces himself. The smaller starts to smile at him, and introduces himself back. The bigger boy decides that he’ll protect this boy. He’ll protect him for as long as he can.

***

It’s been a couple weeks since Wonwoo first moved, and he’s relishing in the freedom. He hasn’t had to run from school or creep around everywhere to avoid people, besides when he had the tree on his case. The freedom’s given him a sense of security, which makes him a much happier person. His parents can see that at home, he’s spent less time in his room and more time out helping with cooking and chores around the house.

He’s still not social at school. He knows he said he’d listen to Mingyu, but there’s just something at the back of his mind that stops him…

***

It’s been a couple weeks since Mingyu first met Wonwoo, and he hasn’t approached him since. Well, not directly anyways. He’s been, not exactly, kind of, maybe, following him around. 

He can’t help it.

Ever since the boy first came in he’s been popping up in Mingyu’s sight, their paths always crossing somehow. The first day, Mingyu found him in the library. When Mingyu’s walked home he’s seen him walk in front of him, heading the same direction. When he walks out of his classes, despite the big school, his attention always seems to fall back to Wonwoo. It’s not even like he’s noticeable in a crowd. He’s not. He’s average height, no weird hair dye and has his head faced towards the floor just like most students. Maybe it’s just the way he garners attention, the mysterious, non-talkative type that you find lurking in the library.

Nevertheless, he’s caught Mingyu’s attention, especially since that “I stand alone” speech of his. It’s made Mingyu confident that he can’t stand alone. And so that’s why he’s been following him.

At a close distance of course. It’s not like he would go up to him, sit behind him and stare at him all day, that would just been plain annoying. Mingyu decided to do it the way they do in movies. The stealth way. He’s already (not creepily) found out the other’s timetable, so he knows where he’s heading most of the time. And some classes he has with him, so he has a reason to follow him there. Everywhere else, when he goes to the library or goes home, he follows at a distance.

He doesn’t stay around much either. He just makes sure the boy is ok, gets to the library without being bothered, gets on his way home too, he only wants to make sure the other is alright. He knows he only wants to be left alone, however there’s still a part of Mingyu that says Wonwoo thinks otherwise.

He’s currently sitting at his lunch table with Seok and Jihoon. The two he always sits with. He can’t remember how long he’s been friends with these two, but it’s been for as long as he can remember. He was only little when he met them, one of them sitting grumpy on the floor while the other drawing next to him. At the time, Mingyu didn’t have any set friends, so he went up to the one drawing and asked to join. Eventually he was sitting drawing with Seokmin, and felt so proud when he told a joke to the grumpy one, making him smile, eventually learning that his name was Jihoon, who was only grumpy because he got an apple instead of a banana for his lunch. Every lunch since, the three were inseparable, their personalities matching well to survive through the years. Jihoon’s blunt yet honest personality always mixing with Seokmin’s simple yet hilarious one, finally completed with Mingyu’s serious yet kind-hearted personality looking after the two. All three of them equally friendly with the other two, and together made every lunch time entertaining.

These two kept Mingyu sane during his years of high school. He has no idea what he’d do without them. Mingyu stops reminiscing and joins in the conversation. It seems every time Mingyu spaces out, he comes back to an equally entertaining conversation.

“Horses are free animals. They deserve rights.”

“I didn’t say they don’t deserve rights, just letting horses onto school property for graduation would probably be a bad idea, Seok.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“What’s wrong?! Oh I don’t know, maybe they’ll get excited and start trampling over the student body!”

“Don’t worry, I can talk to them. They’ll listen to me if I have my horse head on.”

“Mingyu do you hear this kid? How did he get into high school please tell me that.”

“Jihoon stop being so mean to me, you know you love me.”

“I sometimes question that.”

Seokmin gasps as Mingyu stifles his laughter to listen to what happens next. “I am offended. I’m going to go live with my other family now. The horses will accept me.”

“Yes, then we won’t see you until graduation.”

“So you do think it’s a good idea to ride in on a horse to graduation!”

“I didn’t- Ugh nevermind Seok, you do you.”

Mingyu swallows down his lunch. “Seok I think it’s a great idea, but how do we differentiate between you and the horses? How do we know which one to congratulate?”

Seokmin stares down at the table for a second contemplating what Mingyu said. “Oh my god you’re right, how could I do that? No, I can’t invite the horses. I’ll have to find some other sort of grand entrance.”

Jihoon looks astounded at Mingyu. “How do you always do that? And why not sooner, you literally watch me tear my hair out at this kid’s logic every lunch.”

Mingyu just laughs, “It’s entertaining Ji, you’ve gotta admit, you’ll look back on these in a couple years and laugh.”

Jihoon gives a slight smile as he shakes his head at his two best friends. “Yeah, ok.”

They continue their friendly banter as a familiar face walks up to them. Jihoon stands up to greet Seungcheol as he waves at them and takes the spot next to Jihoon and Mingyu. 

“Hey guys, how are my favourite kids doing?”

“We’re not kids Cheol, we’re only a year below you.” Jihoon rolls his eyes at the older.

“Exactly. Kids.” Cheol laughs. “Anyways, how’s year 11 going?”

“It sucks.”

“Agreed.”

“Too much work.”

Seungcheol just laughs at these responses. “Kids just wait until next year, you’re going to want to laugh in my position too. Or cry, either way.”

Jihoon perks up. “Oh yeah, what about being a senior? What’s the workload like?”

“Enough to stress you out by just looking at the assessment calendar.”

The boys start talking more about school, home and eventually moving onto sport. They all like Seungcheol a lot, he’s kind of like Mingyu, but older. He’s knows a lot of people around the school from helping out and volunteering, and he’s quite the academic. He’s planning to go to the college Mingyu and Jihoon want to go to, Bridgemont, and by the looks of his grades, he’s most likely going to be accepted.

“So, guys. Anyone talked to that new kid in your grade?”

Seokmin’s shoulders slump. “I have no class with him, I don’t even know what he looks like.”

“How could you not know what he looks like? Don’t you know everyone in your grade?”

“No, you’re confusing me with Mingyu. I only know like, two people.”

Mingyu sighs. “That’s actually kind of sad Seokmin, you should try to talk to other students more, you’re so bright literally all you’d have to do is smile at them and they’d be your friend.”

“I was exaggerating, don’t worry Mingyu. I know a lot of them, but not everyone. I don’t want to randomly go up to someone and ask if they’re the new kid because that would look BAD. What if they’d been in my class for years?”

“Ok true. Back to the question, I’ve talked to him. He seems nice.” 

Jihoon’s eyebrow shoots up. “Really? Word around is the kid doesn’t talk to anyone. Just keeps to himself. He doesn’t even try to keep a conversation.”

“Yeah, well maybe that’s just how he is. Doesn’t mean he hates everyone, he just wants to be alone.” Mingyu quickly defends him.

“Sounds plain cold to me.”

“Me too.” Seungcheol agrees.

“Guys, give him a break. Like Mingyu said, he may be talkative but just wants to be alone for a while. Maybe he hasn’t found friends yet! Or maybe he’s mute…”

“Seok, I’ve talked to him.”

“Oh. Well maybe he just doesn’t like to talk.”

“You just contradicted yourself… Ok but seriously, like Seok said, give him a chance. Don’t judge just yet, it’s only been a few weeks.”

Seungcheol grins at Mingyu. “You seem a little fond of the guy, what’d he do, hypnotise you when you spoke.” Jihoon starts snickering at that.

“No Seungcheol, I’m not hypnotised or anything, I just think you guys are being a bit too harsh.”

Seungcheol rolls his eyes, but ultimately backs off. They continue to talk for a couple minutes until Seungcheol waves goodbye to them to head to his own group.

Seok suddenly gets excited and fidgets in his seat. “Ooh ooh guys I have an idea. You know how you guys pointed out that I don’t know many students,” both boys nod, “Well, I thought about this. Mingyu knows a lot of people because he offers to help them. So, I can maybe start a kind of help service too. Except, it will be a “free the mind” kind of service. People come to me with advice and I’ll help them!” 

Jihoon looks puzzled at the idea however Mingyu thinks it’s a great idea. “Well, that’s a good way to get to know others. Only question is, how are you going to set it up?”

Seok thinks for a moment. “Well, I can print out fliers and stick them all over the school with my number down the bottom, or I could put up signs offering it. I may even be ale to start a club! Have a circle of people come in and just talk it out. That sounds good right? Especially since I love talking, so if they don’t I’ll just do it for them.”

Mingyu laughs at that. “Sounds great Seok, maybe you should start it soon, the earlier the better.” Seokmin agrees and goes on about ideas for planning it while Mingyu looks interested and Jihoon looks, somewhat intrigued.

***

Wonwoo greets the librarian as he heads in. He’s been there every lunch since the first day, so now the librarian knows his face well, and isn’t surprised that he comes in. He may as well say she’s the person he’s talked to the most at this school.

“Hello Wonwoo, finished that book already?”

“Yeah, I spent all night reading it.”

The librarian laughs. “Now Wonwoo, as much as I love you reading books, make sure to get to sleep on time.”

“I will miss.”

The librarian smiles at him as he makes his way to his beanbag. On the way, he strolls through the fantasy aisle, barely stopping to quickly grabb a random book, and continues to the end. He flops down and prepares himself to enter another world.

He gets so lost in the book that he finds himself being tapped on the shoulder by the librarian again. He quickly realises the time and heads to the counter, aiming to borrow the book before leaving. He borrows it and turns to head out the door, before having an unusual encounter.

“Mingyu?”

“Oh there you are.” Huh? 

“Huh?”

Mingyu’s eyes go wide as he stutters to cover up what he just said. “Oh, I meant, you’re here. In the library. Like always. You know.”

Wonwoo stares at him weirdly before brushing it off. “It’s nearly class time, what are you doing heading to the library?”

He turns around and faces the way Wonwoo is heading. “Actually I wanted to borrow a book, but I guess it’s too late now…” At the thought of someone wanting to borrow a book, Wonwoo lights up.

“You like reading too?”

***

“You like reading too?”

No. Kim Mingyu detests reading.

“Yeah of course! Getting all caught up in the characters and story and… stuff.” He feels bad lying to Wonwoo, but how else was he supposed to get out of that situation? Oh hi! I was just coming here to see if you’d already left for your next class because I’m stalking you.

Yeah, that didn’t sound well to Mingyu either. They start walking to class as Wonwoo continues the conversation. 

“Wow, why didn’t you tell me earlier? Also what book were you thinking of reading?”

Quick, think Mingyu. Nevermind, he doesn’t know anything about books. “Actually, I was just going to browse. See what caught my attention.”

Wonwoo perks up a bit. “I can look with you this afternoon if you want? I always stay behind in the afternoons.”

“I kno- I mean yeah that would be great if you could.” God damnit Kim Mingyu, what have you got yourself into. Not only do you hate reading, but you have now lied to the new kid. And just when he wanted to be friends with him…

“Great! I’ll meet you here after school?”

“No it’s alright I’ll meet you outside your last class.” He pauses before asking. “Where is your last class?”

“Class B302.” He knew that. “Just wait at the bottom of B Block, I’ll meet you there.”

“Ok sounds like a plan. See you then Wonwoo.”

“See you then.”

They reach the inner courtyard and split to their respective classrooms.

After the last bell of the day rings, Mingyu rushes out of his sixth period Psychology class towards his locker.

“Mingyu! Where are you going?”

“Seok don’t wait up for me, I’ll see you tomorrow, ok?” With that he leaves a pouting Seokmin behind as he scoops his bag out of the locker and walks to the meeting place.

He sees Wonwoo waiting below, bag already slung on his shoulder. Mingyu gives him a big wave, which is replied by a small, but definite, wave from Wonwoo. Mingyu walks over and greets the smaller.

“Hey Wonwoo.”

“Hello. Should we get going?”

“Yeah let’s go.”

They walk to the library, making small talk along the way.

“So, Wonwoo, what’s your favourite animal?”

“Fox.”

“Oh that’s nice! What about colour?”

“Mint Green.”

“Hey me too! Do you have any siblings?”

“No, you?”

“Yeah, I have a younger brother.”

“Nice.”

“Yeah.”

Look at this. He was having a conversation with Wonwoo. Well, he was trying. He was getting answers, so it’s not a complete fail. They eventually get to the library and both greet the librarian upon entrance.

“So, where do you want to start?” Mingyu looks at Wonwoo for a second taking in the question, then points to the fantasy aisle.

“Let’s go there. I love dragons.” Wonwoo chuckles at that.

“Ok, dragon story it is.”

They spend quite a bit in the library. Wonwoo recommending books to Mingyu, Mingyu putting them in a maybe pile on the trolley he borrowed from the front desk. He told Wonwoo about how he helps out with putting the books back occasionally, which seemed to impress him. Thank god for that, or else Mingyu wouldn’t know anything at all about libraries, he’d be utterly lost in this mess.

Eventually it’s gotten to the point where Mingyu has many maybe’s and too many no’s, but still no yes’s. Wonwoo looks at him, as if ttrying to pick him apart.

“You’re a fussy one.”

Mingyu blushes. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be sorry, we need to find you a book.”

No really, he doesn’t. The only reason he hasn’t said yes was because that would mean he’d have to read it, and knowing Wonwoo, he probably knows every book, and would ask Mingyu questions on it later. Maybe he should find a book summary website…

“How about this one?” 

Wonwoo hands him a light book. Mingyu looks at it and reads the blurb. It’s not exclusively about dragons, but it sounds interesting enough. And it’s not too thick to scare him off. Maybe he’ll just borrow this book, to keep Wonwoo from searching any harder. The poor boy has literally been searching the shelf for ages, paying more attention to the task rather than the actual person in front of him, Mingyu.

“This one looks cool. I’ll borrow it.” Wonwoo gives a small smile of accomplishment and goes to head to the counter with Mingyu, when both boys stop.

They forgot about the massive pile of books still on the trolley.

“Should we…”

“Yeah, we probably should.”

The boys both take it upon themselves to put all the books back, after all, they were the ones to create the mess. With Mingyu’s previous experience of putting books back and Wonwoo’s love of libraries, they manage to get all the books back in the shelves in no time. They finally grab Mingyu’s book and head up to the counter to borrow it out.

“You boys better get home soon, it’ll start to get dark soon.” The librarian was right, the time was already 5pm, and the sun was timed to set in around an hour. It took mingyu around half an hour to walk home, but he had no idea how long it took for Wonwoo. They head out, grabbing their bags and walk towards the school exit.

“Are you going to be alright getting home?” Mingyu felt kind of bad for keeping the boy behind this long, especially since he wasn’t looking to borrow a book in the first place.

“Yes I’ll be fine, will you?”

“Yeah, it’ll only take me half an hour to walk.”

“Same. You walk home?”

“Yeah, everyday. I’ve seen you walk sometimes, but you always rush out.”

“Just a habit. Want to get home quick.”

“Don’t we all.” Wonwoo laughs a bit, to which Mingyu smiles. The afternoon wasn’t bad, wasn’t bad at all. He got to spend more time with Wonwoo, and found him to be quite cool, despite the seriousness of finding a book. And his smile was something hidden, but there. It was cute.

The boys continue to talk, Wonwoo seeming to have warmed up more to Mingyu during the two hours spent looking for a book. They eventually get to the end of a path where the boys part ways. Mingyu thanks Wonwoo for taking his time to help him, to which Wonwoo responds with a no problem and an offer to help look for books in the future. Mingyu might have just found his way to befriend the quiet one. As he turns away from Wonwoo and faces the way towards his house, he smiles to himself, finally feeling like he accomplished something in the “Become friends with Wonwoo” plan. He walks home with a slight bounce in his step, and a smile on his face.

That is, until he sees his phone.

5 missed calls from Jihoon.

What did he need that was so desperate for 5 phone calls? He barely ever called him. He decides to call the older back to find out.

“Hyung, what’s up?”

***

“Hello. Should we get going?”

“Yeah let’s go.”

Jihoon walks by as he hears Mingyu. He’s about to yell out to him when he spots who he’s with. Wonwoo. What’s he doing with him, he thought that kid wanted to be alone? He’s curious about it, so he ends up following them.

He’s walked across the school, not too close but not too far behind the two. He can see them talking but can’t hear what about, but Mingyu looks overexcited in every sentence. God, he loved his friend, but if he was trying to befriend the “one that wants to be alone” by being overexcited, he wasn’t going to get anywhere.

Eventually, they lead him to the library. He sees both boys put their bags down on the racks outside and head in. The library? Really? Mingyu never went there unless he was returning books, and it didn’t look like he had any in hand at the moment. What was he doing there then?

He decides to wait on the stairs of the adjacent building for Mingyu to walk out. Only, he doesn’t. It’s already been half an hour, and Jihoon’s tired of waiting. He decides to call the younger instead. This goes on for a bit more, until he can’t take waiting, and decides to leave. As he leaves he turns back just to make sure, and sure enough, their bags are still on the racks. What could Mingyu possibly be doing in a library for that long? Well, whatever it is, Jihoon’s had enough and heads home.

After heading home he lies on his bed when he gets a call from Mingyu. Finally. He picks up.

“Hyung, what’s up?”

What’s up? His best friend just spent over an hour in the library, a building he never goes to for any reason other than to help others, and Jihoon is slightly confused at the gesture.

“I saw you go into the library, with the new kid. What’s up with that?”

“Wonwoo was helping me pick a book to read.” A book?

“Since when do you read?”

“Since now!”

“Mingyu. I’ve been your best friend for years. You expect me to believe you read books.”

There’s a slight pause. “Yes…?”

Jihoon huffs. “You sure it’s nothing to do with the new kid?”

“No, not entirely. He suggested it actually. I told you guys he wasn’t cold.”

“Alright alright I take back what I said. I’m just saying, ever since start of term you’ve kind of been, wondering everywhere. Around the halls, around buildings you don’t have classes in… before lunch and missing the first 10 minutes of it. Everyday. What’s going on?”

“Nothing hyung, I promise. I’m not trying to avoid you guys or anything, just been getting caught up with stuff. You know, year 11. Senior year next year.”

Jihoon doesn’t believe it, but lets it go on the account of being tired. “Ok, I gotta go study now. Take care.”

“You too.” And with that, the call ends.

Jihoon knows something’s up. And he’s going to get to the bottom of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok i think i finally got the notes sorted  
> Also these are coming out so fast coz I think I have a writing bug  
> which is weird for me  
> anyways hope you guys are enjoying it so far :)


	4. When you think you know...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Complications occur. Plural.

“Get help from your local smiling face, Lee Seokmin!”

Seokmin’s handing out fliers and taping them on walls. Mingyu thinks it’s great his friend is doing this, but isn’t sure that handing out his phone number is the best solution.

“Seok, maybe instead of handing these out, you start a club like you said earlier. That way, you’re not handing your phone number out to strangers.”

“They may be strangers now, but soon enough I’ll get to know everyone. Everyone needs advice on things, and that’s where they’ll get help from their local smiling face, Lee Seokmin.” Seok immediately pulls a massive grin on his face, to which Mingyu just rolls his eyes at, but he lets him do his thing. Jihoon comes up to him, eyeing Seokmin’s fliers.

“He does know he’s handing his number to high schoolers.”

“Yep.”

“And that high schoolers use numbers to prank call?”

“Yep.”

“And that high schoolers like to bottle up their feelings so literally no one will genuinely call him.”

“No.” Mingyu replies as Jihoon sighs while looking at his friend, but doesn’t intervene, as Seokmin looks really happy handing these out.

“Ji, he feels like he’s helping everyone. Let him have it.”

“You’re right. It is a good gesture, I’m just not sure he’s going to get anywhere with it.” They continue to stand, overlooking Seokmin handing out more until the bell goes for first classes.

“Seok, come on we have psych. You can hand more out at lunch.”

“Ok let's go!”

Mingyu heads off with Seokmin to their first class, with a bubbling Seok talking about his future plans for help, and a laughing but supportive Mingyu listening.

***

Wonwoo places his bag in his locker, flips it shut and locks it. Having arrived at school a bit late, due to his cat overturning his breakfast when he wasn’t paying attention, he hurries to his next class. Gripping his books, he passes many students until this one student stands in his way.

“Take this flier! I’m trying to help people around the school, there’s information on there. Don’t fear, Lee Seokmin is here!”

With that, the peculiar student, who he remembers passing multiple times, thrusts a flier in his already filled hands and finds someone else to bombard fliers with. Wonwoo has no time to look at the flier, as he continues bustling through the crowd to get to class. He knows he won’t be late, but he doesn’t want to try time.

He speeds through the door to his usual spot, somewhere in the back, he always draws himself to the back, and heavily drops his books on the desk, the flier previously given to him shooting into the air. He makes a grab for it before it disappears out the window and turns to sit at his desk. The flier basically states what the student had told him, a place for help or advice, and the details of the student below.

“Is it really safe for him to give out his phone number to the whole school…” Wonwoo tuts at the carelessness, but admires the courage this student had to do this. Courage or ignorant stupidity, one of the two had to make the student disregard the consequences of handing these out, consequences being bullies. He folds the piece of paper and tucks it into his pocket as the teacher walks in. time to focus…

***

“…And then he just got up! It was like he hadn’t been struck by lightning at all!” Seokmin’s telling another entertaining story, to which his eyes are lighting up as he tells it.

“You know Seok, there’s actually some people who have been struck by lightning multiple times and are still alive.” Seokmin looks dumbfoundingly at Mingyu.

“Really! I wanna get struck by lightning.”

Jihoon rolls his eyes. “No you don’t Seok, you’ll die.”

“Not always!”

“But likely.”

Seokmin goes to pout but then dives into another story of his. Mingyu’s starting to wonder how many stories he has in that small head of his. As Mingyu’s intently listening to Seokmin, Jihoon’s intently staring at Mingyu, trying to work out what’s wrong.

For all Jihoon knew, it started that year. Ever since that year started, Mingyu had been spacing out regularly, leaving the two behind, even hanging out with the Wonwoo kid for longer than he hung out with them. Jihoon’s decided, the next time he leaves them early, which is a regular thing now, he’ll follow. Source the problem at its core.

I mean, there’s a few excuses he’ll accept. If Mingyu’s family is sick and he’s calling them every lunch, or he’s doing extra help for the teachers or something, but if he’s heading out to hang with other people, or spending more time at the library with that Wonwoo, Jihoon’s gonna feel pretty betrayed.

Betrayed and fucking pissed.

As usual, 15 minutes before lunch ends, Mingyu excuses himself, leaving Seokmin to tell his stories to the ever entertained Jihoon. Only, Jihoon excused himself too, telling Seokmin to go hand out more fliers. The younger bolts up at the opportunity, not even noticing that Jihoon only leaves to follow Mingyu.

He sees Mingyu following a particular path, and Jihoon’s face boils as he knows where he’s headed. To the library. What is it with him these days?! He calms himself down enough to continue following him, only to stop way before the entrance.

Because Mingyu stopped before the entrance too.

Jihoon squints his eyes. Yeah, he’s definitely stopped. And not moving. In fact, it looks like he plans to stay there, the steps of the building where Jihoon waited for Mingyu last week. The building, D Block, faces West as the library faces North, so there’s a few blind spots where, from the library, you can’t be seen, the steps of D Block being one of them. It’s the perfect spot to wait for someone entering or exiting the library, which is why Jihoon picked them to sit on.

And apparently so did Mingyu.

Jihoon resorts to standing at the end of D Block, close enough so Mingyu couldn’t see him from his position but Jihoon could see Mingyu and the library perfectly. He’s still staring at the younger wondering what he’s up to. Jihoon only has to wonder a couple moments, as in his peripheral, the library doors swing open.

Wonwoo steps out, head in a book, and oblivious to the fact that Jihoon is intently watching Mingyu who is intently watching him. He rearranges his books in his arms so he can read and walk comfortably, and continues to walk closer to Jihoon. He’s already passed Mingyu’s blind spot, but now Jihoon needs to find somewhere to hide, or else Mingyu will notice him. He’s not worried about Wonwoo though, the kid has his head too far into the book.

Jihoon creeps around the side of the building, planning to stay along the edge of it until Mingyu passes. He sees Wonwoo continue his way to the main courtyard and moments later, Mingyu appears around 30 metres in front of him, luckily facing towards the courtyard and away from Jihoon. However Jihoon doesn’t start breathing until Mingyu’s chased Wonwoo’s trail and is out of sight.

So Mingyu was following Wonwoo. That explains why he always goes at a set time, and why it’s always at the start and end of lunch. The real question is why? Not only is he following him, but he remembers him standing up for him the other week when Seungcheol and himself were questioning the kid. Maybe Seungcheol was right, Mingyu was fond of the new kid. But what did that mean? Does Mingyu even know what he’s doing, following someone like that constantly is a really weird habit. He’s basically stalking him.

Not that Jihoon was any better today but that’s besides the point. He had a reason, to find out what was wrong with his friend, and it was only once. Mingyu’s been disappearing most of the year, which means he’s been following him most of the year. Unless it’s something else. Right now, Jihoon’s so totally confused that he just has to put it aside for now. He may have to do this again, to see if Mingyu does it constantly. Then Jihoon will think of it. But for now, he should probably concentrate on figuring out his next class.

***

 

 **Ji** : hey wanna come 2 mine tonight

 

Mingyu pulls out his phone and glances at the text from Ji. He quickly responds with a yes, feeling better during his last classes now that he has something to look forward to after school. He texts his neighbours house, asking if they can pick up Minsoo from school and have him for the night. He’s lucky he’s good friends with them. The couple’s son is in the same year as Minsoo, so they would usually play together at each other’s house, until eventually the families got close too. Mingyu’s even gone over and cooked for them sometimes, so now they love him. It’s not long before he get’s an approval from them, and the night is a go.

After classes finished, Mingyu meets Jihoon at the designated spot and they head home together. Jihoon’s mother is off work, so she comes to pick the boys up. His mother tries to make small talk with the boys, until eventually drifting out of the conversation, leaving the boys to talk on the way there. They get to Jihoon’s, thanking his mother, well Mingyu thanking and Jihoon walking straight in, heading towards his bedroom. Mingyu joins him after hearing the mother remark on his manners, wishing Jihoon would do that. Mingyu chuckles, maybe he should teach his friend some courtesy.

Once in the room, the boys drop their bags and drop, Jihoon on the chair at his desk and Mingyu on the tiny bed. Well, tiny for him anyway, it was the right size for Jihoon. The room was small, but cozy, it had a slanted roof so that in some points Mingyu had to duck in order not to hit his head, and the overall look of it was neat and tidy. There seemed to be a theme of blue and white, white desk, blue books, white bed frame, blue bed sheet, just like a child’s bedroom.

“So, what sparked this spontaneous sleepover?” Mingyu questions, facing the ceiling as Jihoon spins his chair to face him.

“Nothing. Just wanted to spend time with my best bud.”

Mingyu nearly died laughing.

Trying to hold it in, he ended up laughing louder than he thought, clutching at his sides to stop heaving out waves of laughter. Jihoon, not looking amused, simply waits for him to stop laughing. Mingyu takes a few more moments, some breathers and concentration to finally stop laughing, then sits up and looks Jihoon square in the face.

“Bullshit.”

“Is not.”

“Is too. Since when do you call me ‘best bud’?”

“Since now! People change.”

“Not like that Ji.” Mingyu continues to laugh as he leans back onto the bed. “Ji, whatever it is, you can tell me. I can help you.”

Jihoon looks at the younger, his eyes closed as he lies back on the bed. Jihoon bites his lip, debating whether to come straight clean or do it stealthy. Eventually, he decides to just come out with it.

“Look, Mingyu. You’re right, there’s a reason I called you over, but it isn’t that easy to say. I just want to ask, why have you been, you know, leaving us. All the time.” Mingyu sits up straight away and blinks at Jihoon, as if not knowing what he’s talking about, so he continues. “Every lunch, you get there late, you leave early. Not just anytime, but routinely, always around exactly 15 minutes early. After school I find sometimes you’re not with me and Seok, you’re prancing around the school going to libraries, which is fine if you’re helping teachers. Except you aren’t. I don’t know what you’re doing or what’s going on, but whatever it is, I feel like it’s distancing you from us. Tell me if I’m being too paranoid.”

Jihoon knows he’s not paranoid. He watched Mingyu follow Wonwoo, something has to be up with that. Jihoon sits there waiting as Mingyu takes in what he just heard. Obviously Mingyu hadn’t thought about it affecting Ji and Seok much.

“Ji, I’m sorry that this has been happening. And that you’ve been worried about me distancing myself from you guys but trust me that’s not the case! You guys are my best friends, and out of the whole year, I’d choose you two to hang out with. That’s why I sit with you every lunch.”

“Partially. Partially sit with us every lunch.”

Mingyu grins sheepishly. “Yeah about that. I’ve been kind of busy doing something, I would rather not say, but trust me, it’s not coz I want to distance myself or avoid you guys. It’s just, something important.” Jihoon nods at that while his brain ticks. Following Wonwoo is important? Really? Busy? Jihoon knows he’s making excuses, and Mingyu knows Jihoon knows that, however, he decides to drop it.

“ Ok. I trust you Mingyu.” Mingyu smiles and goes for a hug, only to get rejected by the older. Not that he’s surprised. They spend the rest of the afternoon talking, doing homework and watching YouTube. Eventually, they get called down to dinner, interrupting their current video. After dinner, the two boys take turns showering, and go to set up the mattress which Mingyu will sleep on.

The two boys fall asleep to the sound of repaired laughter and college dreams.

***

It’s lunch the next day, and Jihoon plans to follow Mingyu again. Just because everything was alright last night, does not make following Wonwoo alright. He really needs to see what’s at the bottom of this. Right now, it feels like Wonwoo, the new kid, a student who’s been here merely 6 weeks, has Mingyu under his finger. And that means distancing Mingyu from him and Seok.

He takes the known path a fair bit behind Mingyu. He waits in the same place as before. He witnesses the exact same thing, Wonwoo heading out of the library, book in hand. Mingyu following after him, probably following him to his locker. If he didn’t know any better, the taller was a puppy dog on a leash, to which Wonwoo was the owner. He’s stealing his best friend, and Jihoon can’t allow that, no matter how important it was for Mingyu.

Over the next couple of days he tried distracting Mingyu enough so he wouldn’t leave, but it never worked. Mingyu just got up and left, half way through a story, half way through eating, always on time. Jihoon was getting sick of it. He needed to think of another approach, and fast. Mingyu could tell Jihoon was still conscious of him leaving, which meant the taller was distancing himself even faster.

However, one afternoon, Jihoon thinks he’s found a way.

Wonwoo’s walking towards him one afternoon, bag on back and book in hand, his head turned towards the book as his eyes flit across the pages. Jihoon can tell he’s heading to the library, so he can be ‘alone’. Not that it worked last time with Mingyu being there. Jihoon’s standing there, thinking.

Here’s the guy that’s stealing his best friend, and he doesn’t even need to look up to do it. He wants to be alone, yet he’s dragging Mingyu with him. Jihoon can’t understand it. He can only understand the frustration he has for the man. Then suddenly, Jihoon thinks of something. Mingyu only follows Wonwoo because he knows his routine, so if Jihoon could make him change his routine, then Mingyu wouldn’t be able to follow it. He’d come back to them.

That’s enough for Jihoon to be pushed over the edge. He sees Wonwoo still approaching, and steels himself. He passes by Wonwoo, and just at the last second, hits his book up into his face. Wonwoo whips back, immediately alarmed by the taste of paper on his mouth. His head flicks up to see a smirking Jihoon.

“You know, readings for losers. You really shouldn’t go to the library, that’s where bullies pick off their prey. You’ll be next.” Jihoon feels sick saying it, but he remembers what this guy has done. He’s stolen Mingyu off of him, and he won’t have it. For one last measure, he stares down the unblinking Wonwoo, reaches up, and shuts his book on him, Wonwoo’s hand still in it.

Wonwoo looks as if he’s about to bolt, he’s shaking. Jihoon turns a blind eye and continues to walk out the gates, greeting his mom as he hops in the car.

***

No, no, no, no, no.

This can’t be happening again.

He was so happy at his new school away from bullies.

But here it is again.

The encounter with the small fiery one earlier today had him shaking. He didn’t even know his name, and to be honest, when seeing him walk around the school, despite the salty expression on his face, he always thought he resembled a fairy.

Not anymore.

After the student left him, he waited a long time, just standing there, trying to process his thoughts. He needed to calm down, it was only a warning anyway. Or a threat. He took deep breaths, still in the same surprised stance as before, and only when he was ready, stood up properly. He took one look at the library and saw the smaller’s taunting face. And he turned away to walk home.

Once at home, he sat on his bed, staring at nothing in particular. Just staring into nothing. He could feel a furry heat brush against his leg, which then jumped onto his bed to strut into his lap. Even the warmth of Millie, his cat, could cheer him up. He was only reminded of the smirk of that student. He can’t go back to last year, he can’t be at the bottom of the bottom. However, by the emotion shown through that student’s eyes, he was sure that’s where he intended to place him.

He wasn’t even all the way through the first quarter, and he’s already a target? This was unfair. Was it just something about him? Was he bully material, was he made for bullies to practice their taunts on? It’s never like he’s physically been abused. Not physically abused. From the effects of these bullies though, he’s endured enough abuse to be mentally scarred from that. Having no life outside of home and school, and one half of that life being a living hell, the other not having a single clue that hell exists. It wasn’t until the principal finally got involved and called his parents when they found out. Wonwoo doesn’t know who did it, but someone took a stand and told the principal about him. Action was taken, and his parents promised a new school and no more bullies.

He was ecstatic. Until now. Wonwoo, calming down and getting tired of thinking about, goes downstairs to make himself some food, grabbing and holding Millie as tight as he can without strangling her. He gets downstairs and focuses on the task at hand. Anything, just to get his mind off the new anxiety source that comes in a bite size portion.

***

“Wonwoo!”

Mingyu yells out Wonwoo’s name as he walks into school. He’s proud of himself, he actually read the book Wonwoo gave him, and enjoyed it. He’s hoping that Wonwoo would help him find another book, that way he can spend more time getting to know the other. It seems to be the only way through to him.

Wonwoo sees him. And Mingyu knows he hears him. However, he turns his head and continues to walk towards his locker.

Mingyu, not fazed by the action, advances on the smaller, quickly matching strides. He doesn’t talk more, just walks besides him until they reach Wonwoo’s locker. Wonwoo opens his locker before throwing Mingyu a quick look of disgust.

“Mingyu what do you want.”

“I read the book you helped me borrow.” A slight nod from Wonwoo. Was he not happy? Mingyu, slightly confused, persists a bit more. “I was wondering, could you help me find another? I know you really like boo-“

“Mingyu leave me alone.” To which Wonwoo slams his locker shut, not bothering to lock it, and heads to his Bio class. Mingyu would know, he knows his timetable off by heart.

Apparently not his personality.

***

He just wants to get away.

After the events of the day prior, the least he really needs is an overexcited Mingyu standing over him, suffocating him, and asking him to spend more time with him. He really loves that the taller read the book, and that he wants to find another, but in his heart, he has no more capacity for joy at the moment. His old fears of school start to creep in. As he walked in, the plants lining the edges of the buildings seemed to be climbing up, trying to escape. The beige walls no longer represented nostalgic memories, they represented endless pathways to which Wonwoo could not escape.

He could not escape his bullies.

After declining the offer from Mingyu, he steams off to his first class. He doesn’t need to be walking that fast, but he needs to do something. He starts concentrating on walking to his bio class to stop thoughts from creeping in, only it doesn’t work. He needs an escape. He needs to read.

But now even that’s tainted with the promise of an unhappy ending.

All thanks to that student.

***

Mingyu’s waiting on the stairs, once again. He didn’t manage to see Wonwoo earlier that lunch, because he was helping Seokmin hand out fliers, surprisingly by the insistence of Jihoon. He sits there waiting for Wonwoo to walk out. It’s not like he ever talks with the boy on the way back to lunch, he just wants to make sure he’s ok. Getting to class, not getting lost in the school, things like that. He’s being a helpful student, right?

As he sits thinking over it, he notices it’s been minutes. He doesn’t mind that much, he knows sometimes Wonwoo gets too carried away in books, and stays behind a bit more until the librarian taps his shoulder. Mingyu can see the librarian through the doors, typing away at her desk. He’s wondering when she’ll go to grab the boy and tell him to come out. The clock turns 5 minutes until class and the librarian doesn’t even look up once to tell Wonwoo to go to class. Should he go in there himself?

He decides against it and just waits. 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes. 1 Minute. By that time, he’s sure Wonwoo’s not in the library, and realising he’s wasted all this time, sprints off to his next class, having to stop due to dropping his books in a couple places. He breathes heavy as he reaches his next class, English, to see a Jeon Wonwoo, sitting as his desk, looking as normal as ever. Mingyu gives him the once over and goes to his desk to sit. Despite facing away from the boy, he still invades his thoughts, as Mingyu wonders what happened. Did he miss him? Did he just go early? Maybe that was it, and it would be the reason why Wonwoo looked like he’d already settled.

However, it happens again. Mingyu seems to miss him at the start of lunch and results to finding him at the end, only to realise the same happened again. He’s rushed again to his class, earning a look from his teacher and a couple questions from Seokmin. And then it happens the next day. Only this time, he goes up to the librarian to enquire about it.

He enters the library and greets the librarian as he turns towards her. “Excuse me, but I was in here a couple weeks ago with a boy who always seems to be in here.”

“Ah, you mean Wonwoo?”

“Yes him. You wouldn’t happen to know where he is would you? I don’t seem to find him in the library anymore.”

“You’re quite right dear, he hasn’t been in here for most of the week.”

Most of the week?

“He hasn’t been borrowing any books or…”

“No, I’m afraid not. I would remember, that little boy is a dear to talk to. So interested in books, it’s a shame the rest of the generation don’t appreciate them. If you see him do tell him to come again, we had a new batch of books come in yesterday which I think is right up his alley.”

With that Mingyu thanks the librarian and heads out. A week, and Wonwoo hasn’t visited the library for most of it. Was something wrong with him? Mingyu thought he lived off books. Guess he was right.

He didn’t know Jeon Wonwoo at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so the stories moving along now (finally)  
> also next couple chapters you get more depth into seok woooo  
> however i'll be updating less so I can focus on other work i need to do  
> but i had to finish this first  
> anyways tanku for reading ^^


	5. Confrontations & Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon confronts Wonwoo which ends up with Wonwoo confronting Mingyu, Seokmin is an angel and Seungcheol makes a slight appearance. Not necessarily in that order...

The two boys decide to stay away from the sand pit for today’s lunch. That’s where all the meanies play. Instead, they quietly stay inside. One offers the other to play with his most favourite toy, his rabbit, which makes the other smile at him in response. The two get along famously in the kindergarten, for the meantime that is…

***

“So, Seok. Any luck with that help service of yours?”

Seungcheol stands over the three sitting down at the table, making his weekly appearance. Seokmin’s happily swallowing down his food to answer, while Jihoon and Mingyu are contently chewing.

“Not yet, but don’t worry, I will soon! I can feel it.” Seok continues to jump of excitement in his seat, eager to hand out more fliers. Not like he hasn’t already handed them out to everyone in the whole school, twice. Mingyu puts his food down and turns to Seok, ready to accept any advice at all from the bright fellow.

“Seok, I have a dilemma.”

Everyone at the table, Seungcheol included, turns towards Mingyu.

“What do you do if someone you thought you knew, turns out to be nothing like you thought at all?”

A sudden hostile air sweeps the table. Seungcheol immediately leans back, Jihoon stiffens and Seokmin looks puzzled. It takes a couple moments before Seungcheol’s laugh pierces the air. “Come on Mingyu, don’t go scaring us like that-“

“I didn’t mean you guys, I meant in general.”

The air relaxes. Seungcheol breathes, Jihoon’s tense shoulders ease off and Seok puts on a thinking face.

“Hmm. This advice thing is harder than it sounds, but I’ll try. If someone who you thought you knew well turned out to be something that you didn’t expect, then a simple answer would be you didn’t know them well enough. However, maybe if you know this person, and whatever the incident was that made you feel like this only happened once, then it could just be due to a bad day. Everyone gets them! I got QUIET when I have bad days. So, my advice is I don’t think you should worry too much, let the person calm down or cheer up or whatever they need, and then go back to knowing them as well as you do now!” Seokmin throws his arms open in a “ta-da” stance.

Mingyu, Jihoon and Seungcheol stare at the boy, speechless, as the chatter around them seems to be the only noise. Mingyu’s the first one to come to. “Seokmin, that was the first and most reasonable thing I’ve ever heard come out your mouth.”

“Why thank you. So, are you gonna do it?”

“Do what?”

“Take my advice?”

Mingyu doesn’t need to think, he agreed with Seokmin the whole time he was talking. “Yeah, I am. You know what Seok, I think you’ll do even better than you think at this job.” 

Seok beams at the compliment and continues to devour his food. Jihoon and Seungcheol are still sitting there, but eventually Seungcheol makes a remark of agreement, to which Jihoon seconds. The boys go back to their normal conversation, until Seungcheol tells them farewell and walks back to his senior friends. Mingyu looks at the time and sees it’s 15 minutes until lunch ends. Should he go and take Seokmin’s advice now or wait?

He decides to take his advice.

“Hey guys, I gotta go but I’ll see you guys later ok!” He doesn’t wait for replies as he scoops up his lunch and strolls out of the cafeteria, a jealous Jihoon eyeing him.

He goes to his usual space, the steps of D Block, and awaits, but yet again, he finds himself running to his classroom. He’ll need to personally ask Wonwoo, maybe that will straighten things out.

***

Jihoon eyes Mingyu as he leaves their table. Does the boy not get it? He knows Wonwoo hasn’t been going to the library, he followed Mingyu a couple times to check. He’s had no further run in with Wonwoo, but there’s been no need, he changed his routine. However, Mingyu hasn’t.

He can’t believe it.

“Seok, I’m gonna go too.” He needs to walk, clear up his head. He still feels bad for what he did, but he doesn’t feel bad for who he did it to. In Mingyu and Jihoon’s mind, Wonwoo was replacing Jihoon, and replacement wasn’t a feeling that Jihoon liked. He stood up from the table to go grab a breather.

“I’ll come with! Let’s stretch those legs.” Jihoon attempts to resist but ultimately gives in. Seok then packs his things and flies up to Jihoon, and they walk out together. They go down the halls of the building, Seok rattling in Jihoon’s ear about another off topic conversation.

“Do you ever realise every photo of you is when you were younger? I’ve never thought of it that way!” Jihoon nods, as he mostly does. He’s a man of little words when it comes to small talk.

As they’re walk past, Jihoon spots a familiar face. Wonwoo, walking around administration. Well, walking out. What was he doing? Oh no… He wasn’t… No. Jihoon saw his face when he tormented him, he’s too much of a coward to tell anyone about what happened. If Jihoon knew any better, Wonwoo would keep what happened a secret til he died.

Although, he didn’t look any better than when Jihoon last saw him. His face was pale, his shoulders sunk and his eyes didn’t seem to focus anywhere as he walked. Straight for Jihoon and Seokmin. 

Jihoon stutters as he tells Seokmin to go back for a bit, “Seok, I need to talk with this guy, wait for me at the lockers?”

“Ok!” Seok doesn’t question as he skips away.

Jihoon approaches the unsuspecting Wonwoo, Wonwoo’s head facing the ground. Jihoon doesn’t know exactly what to say…

“Wonwoo.”

Wonwoo’s head flicks up immediately, eyes looking half bloodshot, face even paler up close. Jihoon’s eyes widen open at the sight, before he realises Wonwoo has seen him and already started backing away.

“I did what you said, I haven’t gone to the lib-“

“That’s not why I’m talking to you.” Wonwoo hesitantly stops backing away, blinking his eyes slowly as he processes the words. Jihoon doesn’t know what he’s doing, or what he’s doing next, so he decides to put Mingyu out of his mind for a second. 

“Are you alright?”

It takes a while for the words to get through to him, but slight shock and disbelief shows on his face.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, why are you so pale? And you have bloodshot eyes, are you not sleeping properly?”

Wonwoo can’t believe it. He takes a while before formulating an answer. “You came up to me last week, basically tormented me for being a loser who reads, and now you’re asking if I’m alright? Where’s the logic in that?”

“Twerp I know what I said then, I’m asking you now, are you alright? Isn’t that what a normal human would do?” Jihoon’s starting to tap his feet, feeling frustrated with the boy. He shouldn’t have come to talk to him, Wonwoo had already done what Jihoon planned him to do, he should have left it at that. Instead Wonwoo mumbles something that he doesn’t catch.

“Sorry?”

Wonwoo replies with venom in his voice. “Nothing. In short, yeah, I’m perfectly fine. No loss of sleep or anything, so your little head shouldn’t worry about losers like me.” This guy was a handful, Jihoon was just trying to be courteous to him and ask if he was alright, and he gets sarcasm in response. Why does Mingyu waste his time on him anyways.

“What’s your problem-“

“What’s my problem? I don’t know why you’re trying to be nice to me when last time you treated me like gum on the bottom of your shoe. I don’t know what happens around here, whether bullies are bipolar or some shit, but if you’re here to torment me, do it. If you’re here to make friends, do it. But don’t torment me and then act like the nice guy asking if I’m “alright”.”

Jihoon knows how he sounds, but he has his own problems to deal with. “I usually am nice.”

Wonwoo laughs with spite. “Usually…”

“The only reason why I said those things was because I wanted you to stop going to the library.”

Wonwoo glares at him. “And you had to say it like that?”

Jihoon tilts his head at the boy, eyes slightly squinting to get his point across. “I know how much you love going to the library. If I, a random stranger, came up to you and told you to not go to the library, can you honestly say you would listen to me.” Jihoon smirks at the other, knowing he’s right.

Wonwoo bites his lip. “Honestly, no. But why would you want me to not go to the library. It’s the one place I have to be alone, that’s the whole reason I started going there in the first place. And now it’s the place I love, because it holds stories that I love. Why would you, a random stranger, want me to stop doing what I love at the place I love? Just, why?” Wonwoo stares at the boy pleadingly, in his eyes a look of loss.

“You said you wanted to be alone, right?” Jihoon pauses for effect before continuing, the other nods in acknowledgement. “Well tell me this. Did you know that someone around the school has been following you this whole time. I don’t what you’ve done to him, but my friend follows you around, never talking to you of course, just following, and I have no idea why. All I know is that he’s starting to spend more time focused on you, yet again a random stranger, than on his best mates of over 10 years. How do you think that makes me feel?” Jihoon’s puffing by the end of it, his anger starting to build up. He can’t understand why Mingyu would pick this guy over him.

Wonwoo’s face starts brightening to red, whether out of embarrassment or anger Jihoon’s not yet sure. “I’m being followed?”

“Yes moron. And to be clear, I didn’t do that for you, I did that for my friend.”

“But what does the library have to do with any of this?!” Wonwoo starts to raise his voice, anger getting both of the boys.

“Don’t you see?! He knows your routine, what you do, where you go. How else would I know you love going to the library? My job is to make sure YOUR routine changes so my friend forgets his stupid agenda and comes back to US! His friends.”

Wonwoo seems fed up right now, not bothering to try calming himself down. “I don’t care about your friend, I don’t care about anyone in this school. Tell your friend to stop bothering me, and while you’re at it, you can too.” Jihoon sighs at that, knowing Mingyu wouldn’t listen to him if he did what Wonwoo told him to.

“He won’t listen to something as stupid as that. You know what, here’s a plan. You be nice, and try to actually befriend him. Maybe it will slap some sense into his head that you’re not as great as you seem.”

“Oh yeah? Well why hasn’t that sense slapped his head to show him how bad of a friend you are?” The feistiness takes both of them by surprise, but Wonwoo’s cold gaze doesn’t deter. “I’ve spent my whole life being crowded by people that I didn’t want to be crowded by, and I came to this school to avoid it, you think I want to go back to that state?”

“Whatever, I don’t care, I’m done talking to you. To be honest, before this conversation, I thought you were cold never wanting to talk to anybody, but seeing as you don’t care about anyone either, even without trying to get to know them, now I know you are.” Jihoon moves to walk past the guy, but stops to say, “And by the way, I hope this is our last conversation.”

He leaves Wonwoo standing where he is and just walks. He doesn’t plan to go to the lockers. He walks towards the bathroom, somewhere he can splash his face with a bit of water. He needs to wake up.

***

Seokmin’s just standing there. What he saw was both hi friend, but not his friend.

He went away to go to the lockers and wait for Jihoon, but was too bored to stay there so he came back. And, to his horror, he came back to Jihoon and a random student shouting angrily at each other.

“He won’t listen to something as stupid as that. You know what, here’s a plan. You be nice, and try to actually befriend him. Maybe it will slap some sense into his head that you’re not as great as you seem.”

“Oh yeah? Well why hasn’t that sense slapped his head to show him how bad of a friend you are? I’ve spent my whole life being crowded by people that I didn’t want to be crowded by, and I came to this school to avoid it, you think I want to go back to that state?”

“Whatever, I don’t care, I’m done talking to you. To be honest, before this conversation, I thought you were cold never wanting to talk to anybody, but seeing as you don’t care about anyone either, even without trying to get to know them, now I know you are. And by the way, I hope this is our last conversation.”

Seokmin sees his friend walk straight for the bathrooms, and sees the other boy standing there. Blank. He feels so bad for the kid, and, knowing Jihoon, it wouldn’t be safe to approach him for a couple more minutes. Seok decides to go comfort the boy for now. He gets closer and sees the boy kind of shivering, but when he’s standing in front of him, Seokmin sees he’s just shaking. 

“Hey, are you alright? My name’s Seokmin.”

The boy turns his gaze towards Seokmin’s face and tilts his head. “…You’re the guy who gave me that flier.”

Seokmin smiles at that, finally some recognition. “Yes that would be me! I came to see if you’re alright, I saw that little fight you had with my friend.”

Wonwoo’s shaking resides a bit as he slightly turns up his nose with a tone of disgust. “Friend? You call that a friend? He’s a monster.”

“Who, Jihoon? No trust me, he isn’t. He’s very, very loyal to his friends, you just don’t happen to be one yet. He gets in fights here and there, but to let you know, I’ve seen worse. Don’t let him scare you, he’s harmless.”

“Doesn’t seem like it…” 

Seokmin can see the boy still shaken over the fight, so he ushers him near the building and makes them both sit on the ground, backs leaning against the building and Seokmin’s books placed beside him.

“Tell me, what did you fight with him about? Maybe I can sort it out and get you to become friends!”

He sees Wonwoo slightly rolls his eyes. “I don’t want to be friends with him, but I’ll tell you what happened. Maybe you can help me understand.” Seokmin settles down ready to listen to the boy. “Last week, that boy-“

“-Jihoon.”

“Whatever, Jihoon came up to me and threatened me never to go to the library again. I got so scared that I took his advice, didn’t go to the library. Well, not really took, I got scared out of going, which is the worse decision because I miss the library. Anyways, then he comes up to me today and tells me that the only reason he did it was because a friend of his was spending more time on me than on Jihoon and his other friends, because that guy was following me. And apparently, the only way to fix that was for me to change my routine and not go to the library.”

Seokmin’s a bit blown away by the story, but not surprised. Of course something that Jihoon got in a fight for was this complicated.

“Problem is, I don’t know who’s following me, however I still want to go back to the library. I’m not so much scared of Jihoon as I do hate him, but I’m taking his word on the following thing. And if I go back to the library, it’ll happen again, which I absolutely hate. What should I do?”

Seok stays silent a bit more, then proposes his idea. “Find out who’s following you, go back to doing what you love. Reading.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“It is! Think about it, if they’re following you from the library, that means they must be following you when you either get there, leave, or they stay in there the whole time with you. Before Jihoon told you this you had no clue about it, am I right?”

Wonwoo pauses. “I guess… no I had no idea.”

Seok beams again. “Then you need to find out where are places in the library and outside of it that one could possibly hide while following you.”

“You do know, I become oblivious when reading books.”

“So oblivious that you miss someone staring at you? Creeping up behind you? Following you out the door?”

“I guess not.”

“Then think, where are places they could stay or start following you from.”

Wonwoo thinks for a moment before saying, “No one comes in the library, so they must stay outside…”

Seokmin eggs him on. “Must be outside, ok, then what places outside do you know where it’s easy to stay waiting for someone?”

Wonwoo knows. There’s only one place of coverage in front of the library, one building where the entrance faces the path before the library. And one flight of stairs where someone could easily wait without being noticed, not by someone with a head in their book reading at least.

“What did you say your name was?”

“Lee Seokmin, at your service.”

“Well, Lee Seokmin, thank you for this. I’m going to go back to the library.”

Wonwoo goes to stand up before Seokmin’s halting him. “If you still have that flier, my number’s on the bottom for you to contact, in case something ever happens again. Also, sorry to ruin your dreams, but I would head to your classes first, there’s 4 minutes left.”

Wonwoo mumbles a slight profanity as he checks his watch for confirmation. Yep. He thanks Seokmin again and rushes off to his locker, Seokmin heading to his class, realising he never caught the other’s name. Wonwoo can already feel the colour coming back to his cheeks, now that his main worry for the week was out of the way. Although the lunch was utterly awful, three good things came out of it. One, He realised Jihoon wasn’t out to bully him, they just now hated each other, two, he met Seokmin, and three, now he has a plan to get back to his library, without being followed.

He goes to his fifth and sixth classes, more hopeful than he had been the past two weeks. It’s time Wonwoo actively did something, and he will. Tomorrow.

***

Mingyu’s waiting out on the steps again. He knows it’s useless, but he can’t help it. English is the next lesson, so maybe he’ll turn and talk to him.

Mingyu prefers his history class though. The teacher made a seating plan which just so happens to situate Wonwoo a diagonal in front of Mingyu, meaning every time he looks to the teacher or the board, he can see Wonwoo. He’s noticed a lot of things about him in those classes. He doesn’t mean to, he just finds himself focusing on the boy. The way he always keeps his head down in his work, as if it were a book, and never looks up more than he has to. The way his hair has grown to flit over his eyes, and how every time it threatens to fall in them, he does a quick head flick to the side, or runs his hands through his hair. Mingyu’s lying if he says the last gesture doesn’t attract him a bit, but he’s straight, it’s just a gesture, and he just needs to check up on the boy, make sure he’s ok.

Surely watching him in class, studying the outline of his structured face, small nose and cute antics isn’t over the top. Surely.

Mingyu’s totally lost in thought about Wonwoo that he doesn’t even realise the real thing walking out of the library. 

Wait.

Yeah, that’s definitely him. Small nose, hair flicking in his eyes and totally lost in a book. Mingyu wonders why today of all days he decided to come back. Mingyu’s watching him pass the stairs of D Block, until suddenly the boy stops walking. He stops walking and closes his book.

“What is he doing…” Mingyu’s confused, Wonwoo always reads on the way to class, that’s why he bumps into so many people. Mingyu’s confused until he sees the boy looking towards him. No, correction. Looking straight at him.

Mingyu’s anxious. He never thought Wonwoo would think to look towards the stairs, especially if he had a book in hand. Wonwoo starts advancing towards the now slightly panicked Mingyu, his legs not exactly short so it doesn’t take him long before he’s standing in front of a shy Mingyu, Mingyu’s head turning up towards the other to innocently smile. At least he doesn’t know that he’s following him.

“I know you’re following me.”

Well shit.

“Why are you following me?”

Mingyu’s a bit lost for words at the moment, but Wonwoo holds his blank gaze. And he intends to, until he gets an answer.

“I wasn’t-“

“Don’t. I know you have been, and for quite some time. Now, why?”

Mingyu huffs and gives up. “One of the first days I met you, you told me you wanted to be alone. People in this school who are alone don’t exactly end up well, it’s the same as any school. I just…” Mingyu waits, hoping to see understanding in Wonwoo’s eyes, but he comes up empty.

“Just what?”

“Just wanted to make sure that didn’t happen to you.”

“So you decided to follow me?”

“Can I reiterate, you said you wanted to be alone so I found a way to keep your wish while looking after you.”

Wonwoo hesitates. Mingyu was looking after him. Mingyu was looking after him.

Mingyu was looking after him.

No one has done that for him before. He’s always been class clown, or tormented, or chased down, but looked after. Not once in his 12 years of schooling has he ever felt like someone looked after him. And now here he was, Kim Mingyu, another stranger in a school of Strangers, looking after him from afar. Wonwoo hadn’t know the feeling before, but now that he knew of Mingyu’s intentions, he feels warm inside. Warm and fuzzy, like when you cuddle under blankets in a cold winter, the feeling of security in a harsh environment. Mingyu was that security.

Mingyu’s a bit worried, because Wonwoo’s been still for a bit. He tries to wave a hand in his face, but ends up standing up, causing a stir of reaction in the other. He’s still silent, before words finally make their way to his mouth.

“You were looking after me?”

“Of course. You’re the new kid, and I told you, I saw me inside of you-“

“Ok stop saying stuff it just sounds wrong.”

Mingyu starts laughing at what he said. Wonwoo takes a glance at him, and on hearing Mingyu laughing can’t stop himself from joining in. The two continue laughing, until they both end up laughing at each other’s laugh. They try to make sentences while laughing, but they’re barely distinguishable.

“Mingyu,” gasp, “your voice is so low,” gasp, “how do you sound like a seal on crack while laughing.”

Mingyu laughs even louder, provoking Wonwoo to only laugh harder, and they can’t seem to stop. For both boys, it’s refreshing, having someone to laugh this hard with. Mingyu thinks that maybe he’d become friends with Wonwoo faster than he thought. And little does he know, Wonwoo’s thinking the same.

After the fit of laughter, they start to walk back to class, both of them going to their lockers before meeting again to walk to their class. They’re talking, and much better than the small talk that happened last time. When they reach their class, Wonwoo finds that he doesn’t want to stop talking to Mingyu. In fact, he wants him to hang around as long as he can. He feels like he finally found something, something that he’s been missing for a long time, and this time he doesn’t plan to let it go.

As they walk in to class, Jihoon walks up the hallway. And he’s noticed them. Of course he has, Mingyu’s nearly a head taller than everyone. What he doesn’t get is the Wonwoo kid. He said yesterday that he didn’t care about anyone, and here he is, laughing his head off and talking to Mingyu like he’s the most interesting thing in the world. What is his problem?

Jihoon doesn’t mind though. Maybe Wonwoo confronted Mingyu about it, which will make Mingyu not follow him anymore. And him not following Wonwoo anymore means that he’ll stop distancing himself and come back to them. Back to Jihoon and Seokmin. And things will go back to normal, back to unfinished lunches and bizarre conversations. That’s all Jihoon wanted, and hopefully Wonwoo won’t replace him as a friend anymore. Now that Mingyu’s talked to him, he’ll realise how much he missed out on Jihoon and Seokmin. That was, if he missed any of it at all. That couldn’t be though.

Mingyu will still want to be his friend… 

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna get into the falling in love stage woot  
> Anyways, I wrote this while listening to Rewind - B.A.P you should check it out  
> Jihoon is not a monster he is a hooman  
> And I love him, and you will too, in the future  
> Just not right now  
> Also happy new years!! It's in an hour for me which *bless* I wanted to get this up by  
> So yeh :)


	6. Giant Hitting/Hugging A Pixie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mingyu and Wonwoo get closer, Mingyu solves things with Jihoon, Wonwoo finds a new place to sit and Mingyu has some set in stone plans for Wonwoo...

“You gotta admit, their flips are fucking incredible.”

“I KNOW!!! And like, that water dance battle scene where moose comes in with a fucking scooter and just WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WATER SPRAYS EVERYWHERE AND THEY DANCE IN IT!!”

“I didn’t know you’ve seen step up.”

“SEEN?? Wonwoo I LIVE for the franchise. It’s so good, each story is different but they all end up being in the same universe, moose kind of weaving his way through all of them. The first one was so good with Tyler and Nora just sparking chemistry and combining dances and then in comes Andie for the second one and it goes to the streets and that’s where moose comes in-“

“You a fan of moose?”

“Very big one. And then the third one where the love between moose and Camille is REAL and just, they slay, and then it goes to the fourth which is a fucking MASTERPIECE. Oh and don’t even get me started on the fifth…”

Wonwoo watches as Mingyu goes on about his, maybe slight, obsession. Mingyu met up with Wonwoo in the library, asking to hear what he was listening to. At the time, Wonwoo was listening to Dance Without You, a song that was featured in the fourth instalment, which Wonwoo knows because he watched it, also intrigued by the dancing. When Mingyu heard it, he started talking about it, however after hearing that Wonwoo was also a fan of the movie, well, that’s when he started freaking out.

But it’s cute. So he lets him continue.

“Probably my favourite dance is the dance with Camille and Moose in the third movie, the one where they’re in the street because I mean, it’s a one shot dance. HOW COOL IS THAT! However my favourite MOMENT in a dance is in the business meeting dance in the fourth movie, where all the money starts pouring on the floor and the scene goes in slowmo for a split second and you can see guys flipping and the money falling down slowly and it’s just- Cinematography you know what I mean?”

No, he doesn’t because he’s only watched it once, maybe twice. But he nods anyways, captivated.

They continue talking about Step Up, and then moving on to movies in general, with a promise that Mingyu will have to show him a movie named Push for it’s awesome plot, and then move onto talking about songs.

Eventually the librarian comes up to them, telling them there’s only 5 minutes left until class. This is a first that Wonwoo has been told that for a reason other than being stuck in a book. He smiles at Mingyu, which in return earns an ear stretching grin from the other. Wonwoo doesn’t even bother borrowing the book, he barely read it, he’ll check it out tomorrow, and joins Mingyu to walk to class.

Wonwoo’s still not entirely sure about Mingyu. Well, he was following him, and for a period of time, however Wonwoo understands his intentions, which makes him a bit easier on the guy. They reach the lockers, taking their separate ways to their classes, both heading to their Psychology classes on the opposite sides of the building.

***

Mingyu’s walking out of his sixth period class. He planned to meet up with Seok and Ji to go to the convenience store, they hadn’t in a while. Seok had texted back with agreement immediately and said he’d meet at Mingyu’s locker, however Jihoon hadn’t responded. Mingyu finished backing up his bag, swung it on his shoulder and locked the locker. He continued to text Seok to stay at his own locker, and went to go look for Jihoon before he left.

Surprisingly, he saw the smaller one packing his stuff away and rushed up to him, not wanting to miss him. He tapped him on the back and the smaller cocked his head towards him.

“Seok and I were going to the convenience store. I sent you a text but I guess you haven’t seen it, did you wanna join?”

Jihoon looks at him. He looks a bit tired, his eyes half drooping and bags slightly showing, but Mingyu’s sure he was just staying up playing games. Jihoon shakes his head, indicating a no, and turns back to finish putting his books in his bag.

“Oh. You sure Ji? It’ll be fun!”

“Yeah. You go ahead, I… I need to sleep. I’m a bit tired.”

 

“Oh yeah of course. Go rest up, we’ll, uh, we’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Jihoon makes a slight nod, lifts his bag and turns his heel on Mingyu, who is standing there, worrying for the boy.

Eventually he meets with Seok, who is simple-mindedly fiddling with a zipper on his bag. They exit the school through the back gates closest to the store and make their way.

“Why isn’t Ji here?”

“He said he was tired so he went home.”

“Ah.”

“Seok, is it just me, or has Ji been a bit weird lately?”

Seok continues to walk but stops kicking rocks and lifts his head up. “Weird as in tense?”

“You noticed?”

“Of course, what kind of friend am I, an ass? Also, I don’t know if this is relevant, but I saw him fighting with another student. He seemed really angry, so maybe it’s that or there could be something else happening which caused him to be really on edge.”

The news of Jihoon fighting with someone wasn’t surprising, but Mingyu thinks he’ll have to talk to Jihoon about it later. Right now, he’s off to the convenience store with Seok. They go in and walk around, even though they both know what they’ll end up getting.

They walk out of the store, each with a slurpee in hand, laughing at the next story that appears in the conversation.

The next day, Mingyu, Seokmin and Jihoon are sitting at their usual table. Things are looking normal, and Jihoon’s happy. Well, he should be. Mingyu was sitting with them again, and he hadn’t been over 10 minutes late. Instead, he had been the first one there. Mingyu and Seokmin are talking about chess however all Jihoon can think about is Wonwoo. 

He needs to clear his head. He knows Mingyu’s been talking with Wonwoo a lot, especially the past week. But he’s still been with them at lunch, except for yesterday. Jihoon was a bit annoyed at that, but he should be reasonable, it was once. And Mingyu did invite him out after school, he just didn’t go. He didn’t feel up to it.

Jihoon tells Mingyu and Seokmin that he has to go to the bathroom, and heads out. He enters the main courtyard, but instead of a right to the bathroom, makes a left to the bubblers. He knows he’s walking fast, but he just needs to distract himself. He doesn’t stop the racing thoughts until the cool sensation of water hits his mouth. He stays drinking for a couple moments when he’s startled with a hand on his shoulder, causing some water to travel down the wrong passage. And he embarrassingly starts choking.

“Oh my god Jihoon!” Mingyu’s standing there, flustered, as he doesn’t know what to do. He starts thumping Jihoon’s back in hopes that helps, but the poor guy feels like dying.

“Min-gasp- gyu stop-“ Mingyu backs away and let’s Jihoon stop retching on his own. Jihoon comes to and starts breathing normally again, the coughing also subsiding.

“You do realise you’re a giant hitting a pixie. Don’t ever hit me again, or I’ll hit you.”

“How would you do that. I’m a giant and you’re a pixie.”

“Guitars hurt boi, try me.”

Mingyu’s hands are up in surrender before the boy starts laughing, without Jihoon. Jihoon then questions why he followed him out.

“Why are you here?”

“I could ask the same, I thought you were going to the bathroom.”

“Changed my mind.”

“Ah.”

Another student approaches them wanting to use the bubbler, so they move out of his way. Jihoon’s looking at Mingyu, who seems to be trying to say something to him, although no words are forming.

“Mingyu, you alright? You seem lost for words.”

Mingyu takes a breath and pulls Jihoon towards the side of the building, out of people’s way.   
“Ji, I don’t know what’s happening between us lately, but I know you’ve been worried that I’ve been distant, however, now I’m worried about you. You’ve been spacing out at lunch, going on more bathroom breaks than I can count and even turned down yesterday afternoon, which is fine. I just want to know if you’re alright.”

At that, Jihoon’s floodgates of emotion crash. All the feelings of anger, regret, longing, hating, they all tumble out as Jihoon starts spewing his thoughts to a comforting Mingyu.

“I’m alright. It’s just, I feel replaced. I know it’s stupid, but lately you’ve been hanging out with Wonwoo, I know because I saw it, and honestly I don’t see what you see in him. I talked with him, well fought with him, and he said he didn’t care for anyone. And now you’re going off caring for him and leaving me here. Seokmin doesn’t mind, he’s happy wherever he is and we both know he’ll find friends wherever he goes. You and Seokmin are so alike in that manner, it’s just you actually do it a lot more than he does. You too can find a lot of friends where you are. You know who won’t find friends, who can’t find friends wherever he goes. Me. And when you go off, and Seokmin approaches someone else and finds new friends, I’m going to be alone. The only two people who I trust enough to become my friend and who I know can deal with being my friend, are the two beside me right now. What happens when you’re gone?”

Mingyu’s stunned at Jihoon, well more at his thoughts. He never realised this is what Jihoon was thinking, and especially this is how Jihoon saw himself. Not good enough to make new friends? The words tear a little at Mingyu’s protected heart, protected by the two people he knows best. Seokmin and Jihoon.

“Ji, why didn’t you say all of this earlier? I had no idea…”

“I didn’t want to sound like a horrible friend. It sounds like I’m being selfish, which I am-“

“No you’re not Ji. And don’t worry, even though I may find other friends and Seok may find other friends, we’ll never abandon you. I’ll make sure of that.”

He can see the smaller’s head drooping, so he takes a step closer to the him and wraps his arms around the small figure. Jihoon never shows his feelings, but the fact that Mingyu isn’t being pushed away right now says enough. Jihoon’s vulnerable, and Mingyu intends to protect that vulnerability. 

***

Wonwoo’s finally back in his library. It took long enough, but complications have sorted themselves out. Well, not all. There’s still Jihoon…

But he doesn’t care. Not everyone in this goddamn school is going to like him. And besides, Mingyu is his friend now, he supposes. If Jihoon were to take things further, He was sure Mingyu, being Wonwoo’s only friend, would stand up for him. 

Wonwoo goes to find the book he started yesterday, but he’s not sure he really wants to read. Spending the last week talking with Mingyu really opened Wonwoo’s eyes. He likes it. He likes talking to someone that someone being Mingyu. He may like it more than reading. Books are timeless, and you can never read one too many times, but in the end, the plot is always the same. The characters are always the same, the lines are always the same, the words on the page are always the same. But one conversation with Mingyu is unpredictable. It’s different, and to Wonwoo, he’s starting to like the different. And that’s how he finds himself missing Wonwoo instead of reading.

But Mingyu hadn’t come to the library today. Wonwoo, closing the book and returning it to the shelf, started walking out of the library doors, surprising the librarian yet again. He walks up the path and enters the main courtyard of the school. God. He’s such a good friend, he doesn’t know where Mingyu sits.

But he doesn’t need to wonder for much longer, because he can see Mingyu up ahead, next to the cafeteria building talking with someone who has their back to Wonwoo, so he can’t actually see them. It’s not until Wonwoo goes closer that he realises Mingyu isn’t speaking, he’s listening. A couple moments later, Wonwoo sees Mingyu pulling a sympathetic face and then pulling the shorter in for a hug.

It’s only then when he realises how short the other is, meaning it can only be one person. 

Jihoon.

Jihoon?

Mingyu’s friends with Jihoon? Even worse, hugging him? Wonwoo feels churning in his stomach and before his brain tells him to, his legs are carrying himself out and away from the situation. He wants to go somewhere foreign. Not the library. Another place.

He walks around the school for the next few minutes, trying to find a place, when he finds a tree. It’s branches spread out around it, so it’s overhanging the ground, and it’s situated close to a junction between a building and a track leading out of the school for cars to enter and exit. It’s away from most other buildings, and at the back of the school. Wonwoo thinks it’s perfect.

He walks under the tree and sits on the roots facing away from the school and outside to the road. The school’s on a high hill, so past the road, he can see houses for miles. Houses, townhouses, shopping malls, river banks. They all blend together on the canvas painted out in front of him, and Wonwoo thinks he’s found his new favourite place. If he can’t go to a book to escape, he can go to the beautiful view of the city to escape. 

He plans to keep this place between himself.

And the tree.

***

After hugging him, Mingyu gets a warning from Jihoon to never do it again. However, they both know Jihoon needed it. Mingyu walks back with Jihoon to their table, to a sight of Seokmin fitting as many pieces of carrot in his mouth as he can. With an audience of course.

“One more! One More” The audience is egging him on, not like he needed it. He was having fun.

“Oh my god. We left him for 10 minutes, and he’s got the whole cafeteria watching him kill carrots for fun.” Jihoon starts grumbling as he and Mingyu make their way through the crowd, only to reach the front as the sight of Seokmin emptying the carrots on the table registers into their mind.

Jihoon’s eyes open wide. “SEOK! THAT’S OUR TABLE!”

“Ew, nastie” Despite it, Mingyu walks up and helps the boy clean it up as the crowd disperses, Jihoon left standing their not sure whether to crack laughing or to continue the disgusted face. He helps the boys clean up before any teachers come snooping, and go to sit back down at the table.

“Although that was disgusting, it was also impressive. How many did you fit?”

“17. The world record is 25 though…”

Mingyu pats him on the shoulder, as he genuinely looks sad. “Don’t worry my friend, I’m sure you’ll get there one day.”

Seokmin seems to brighten up, the same as Jihoon and Mingyu, after solving there problems. The only problem, in the time that Jihoon and Mingyu had made up, Mingyu had seem to forget about Wonwoo.

It wasn’t until upon entering his next period English class had Mingyu noticed this. He went to his seat, quickly arranged his things and turned around to talk to Wonwoo.

“Hey.”

No response.

“Wonwoo?”

Wonwoo’s eyes catch Mingyu’s, acknowledging presence. Mingyu continues.

“I didn’t catch you at lunch, sorry.”

“It’s alright.” You were only hugging Jihoon.

“Do you wanna go look for a book this afternoon? I finished the one from last week.”

Wonwoo does, but not this afternoon. He wants to go home and catch up on homework.

“Sorry Mingyu, I’m a bit busy this afternoon. And, all other afternoons. I’ll talk to you when I can.” With that, he makes a gesture of paying attention to the teacher and signals the end of conversation.

***

It’s a couple days later, and Mingyu’s been everywhere. He finds that if he times it right, he can meet Wonwoo on the junction they separated from earlier, and walk the rest of the way to school with him. He can also walk to both History and English with him. At lunch, he hangs out with Jihoon and Seokmin, promising himself that he won’t ever forget about them. Then after school, if he can’t hang out with one, he asks the other. He’s not two timing, he’s sharing the love. Although, the love seems to be a bit tiring for him.

That morning he walked with Wonwoo to school, and with him to History. He met up with Seokmin after that to walk to their bio class. As he and Seok were leaving, the teacher pulled Mingyu aside. 

“Sorry dear, could you pass these back to the library for me? They’re the senior textbooks.”

Mingyu agrees and leaves Seokmin with a promise of meeting him at lunch. Mingyu grabs the books and makes a quick getaway to the library. Upon entrance, he can tell the place is empty except for the librarian. He drops the books off, but decides to wait for Wonwoo to enter so he can say hi.

The librarian notices him standing at the counter. “Are you waiting for Wonwoo? Again, he hasn’t been here in a week. Maybe he has on and off weeks.” Mingyu’s obviously puzzled by that statement. He hasn’t been here in a week again? The last time he wasn’t in the library Mingyu was pretty sure was because he knew about Mingyu following him. Does that mean someone else has been following him? Surely not. He doubted it.

So what happened?

He thanks the librarian and decides to act the detective. He goes around the school, looking in the quietest places for the bookworm, but comes up blank. He knows he should head back to the cafeteria, or Jihoon may freak again, but he’s hoping Seokmin can contain him. At least, until Mingyu finds Wonwoo.

He’s still wondering what’s the matter with him. Did Mingyu do something? Mingyu seemed to be the only person Wonwoo talked to at this school, so he could be the only person that could hurt him right? Unless Jihoon did something, he remembers being told that Jihoon fought with Wonwoo. But he doubted that, Jihoon wouldn’t take it too far.

Mingyu heads towards the part of the school he is yet to search, the back entrance. Really, no one goes here unless they go home from there or they’re going to the convenience store, like his friends do. He walks down the drive, looking around. There’s the big tree that overhangs the junction between the building and driveway, but no Wonwoo. Mingyu’s about to give up, when he hears a shuffling. Mingyu stops breathing, and tunes in his ears to the sound.

More shuffling. Like it’s against a tree.

Mingyu starts walking closer to the tree. As he approaches, he sees feet. Wonwoo’s. He knows because it’s the same set he saw in the library on that first day. He breathes again. He found him.

Mingyu walks around the side, carefully so as not to scare Wonwoo completely. Wonwoo’s got earphones in, completely immersed in the music as he closes his eyes, the shuffling coming from him changing position.

With Wonwoo’s eyes closed, Mingyu goes to sit next to him, hopefully not disturbing him. However, sixth sense betrays him, as when he sits, Wonwoo’s eyes flit open and focus on Mingyu. Mingyu gives a slight smile, to which is reflected by Wonwoo.

Wonwoo takes out his right earphone. “How did you find me?”

“Why aren’t you at the library? I thought it was your home.”

“Things change. Interests change.”

“Your interests are… trees now?”

“I’ve always liked trees.”

“Fair enough.”

Wonwoo chuckles at the response. “I like the view too. It’s really, hmm, I would say euphoric.”

“English A student.”

“Grades haven’t come out yet.”

“No need, I can tell.”

“Moron.”

“Not moron.”

Wonwoo’s smile turns into laughter, and Mingyu’s thankful. Wonwoo isn’t angry at him, well doesn’t seem to be, and with that his tension floats away. 

“So, why are you out here?”

Wonwoo pauses for a while. “I needed to get away. From everyone.”

Gears turn in Mingyu’s head. “But… Wonwoo, you only know me.”

“I know.” Mingyu’s confused. Wonwoo hopes he changes the conversation then and there, he’s not the best at confrontations when he doesn’t initiate them, however Mingyu persists.

“Did you… need to get away from me?”

Wonwoo sighs at this. “A couple days ago I uh went to go look for you. And I found you. Hugging Jihoon. I don’t know if you know-“

“About the fight?”

Wonwoo’s taken back. “Yeah. Jihoon tell you?”

“Yeah. Well, no not initially, but he did. Was it bad?”

No shit, it was a fight. “Yeah Mingyu. The guy hates my guts.”

“Do you hate his?”

He does. “I do.”

Mingyu seems to deflate at that. “Wonwoo, I don’t know what happened between you two, but Jihoon’s one of my closest friends, we have been for a long time. And I can tell you and me are going to be close, I know it. I know it’s hard when you hate someone, but if I could get Jihoon accustomed to the idea of you being my friend, do you think you can accept him as mine?”

“Of course I accept him as your friend. I also accept that I will not be friends with him.”

Mingyu pouts. “In all honesty, if I were to pinpoint you getting along with any one person in this school other than me, it would be Jihoon.”

Now Wonwoo’s really taken back. “I’m sorry what? How could you possibly think that?”

“Well for one, you’re both introverts. He doesn’t go out unless asked, he just stays in his room. You don’t go out unless asked either I’m guessing, you just read. Tell me if I’m wrong.” Wonwoo just squints his eyes but gestures for him to continue. “He doesn’t mind quiet, and neither do you. You both find ways to entertain yourselves. He’s really feisty when it comes to conversations, you’re really mellow and soothing that it just seems like you two would be the perfect fit. As friends.”

Wonwoo’s quite shocked at the turn of the conversation, but he takes it all the same. “I’m still not going to be friends with Jihoon.”

“Aw come on Wonwoo-“

“-No Mingyu, do you know what he did before the fight. He told me not to go to the library, because if I did, I’d be beaten up. He threatened me not to go there, that’s why. Then when we fought, he told me he only did it because he wanted to change my schedule, because his friend, aka you, Kim Mingyu, was following me. And he didn’t LIKE that.”

“I know what he did was pretty mean, but I’m sure, if you just spend time with him and get to know him, he’s not bad.”

Wonwoo’s fully opposed to the idea. “You think I, the person Jihoon hates, will be trusted by and befriend the man himself?”

Mingyu nods his head in full agreement. Wonwoo rolls his eyes.

“Jihoon’s got guards up around him, but if he allows those guards down, you see a really great and loyal friend. I promise.”

“Yeah that’s the problem, if HE allows those guards down.” Mingyu’s quiet for a moment, until an idea strikes him.

“I know what to do.” Wonwoo raises an eyebrow. “You come and sit with us at lunch.”

Wonwoo nearly laughed. 

“That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard-“

“Just think about it! You sit with me, get to know Jihoon. Jihoon will be alright because now I’m not dividing my attention between you and him, you’re at the same table, and he’ll let that go. That’s the main reason he doesn’t like you.”

“No I’m pretty sure it got personal.”

“No one cares. You’re joining my group and that’s final.”

“Do I get a say?”

“Of course.”

“Then no.”

“I said you get a say, not that I’m listening. As of next week, you’ll be sitting at my group.” Mingyu jumps up and retreats, walking back up the driveway as fast as he can, not allowing Wonwoo to disagree with him. Wonwoo’s speechless, the nerve of that boy to tell him what to do. He doesn’t want to be friends with Jihoon. And he’s pretty sure it’s reciprocated.

But he’s also pretty sure that Kim Mingyu is persistent. And he knows, one way or another, he’ll be sitting at that table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you couldn't tell  
> I'm trash for step up  
> And I haven't watched it in a while  
> also for anyone reading and thinking "This is shit"  
> its because I know, that's why i started to become "less shit"  
> so all criticism is appreciated  
> although dont be too harsh im kinda sensitive lmao  
> anyways thanks for reading :)


	7. Parallel Universes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sleepover, some suggestions and some unknown text messages

“Are we going to be best buddies forever?”

“We have to, Mingyu. We share sandwiches.”

Mingyu laughs at that as they sit inside. It’s been raining recently, so the bullies can’t go out to play in the sand pit. Mingyu’s worried they’ll come after him, however with Wonwoo around, the bullies know not to come close. He remembers the day they met, because Wonwoo stood up for him against those bullies. He wishes he could be that cool…

***

“Your mother and I are going out.”

Wonwoo’s dad knocked on the door and entered telling him that. Wonwoo gives a half-hearted acknowledgement, still reading the book from the night before. He can’t go to school without finishing it or else that’s two boring ass hours he’ll be waiting for the bell. He’s not even dressed yet, but he knows he’ll make it on time. Just a little longer…

His dad huffs. “I meant for the night. You’ll have the house to yourself for tonight, and your mother and I will be back around 5. On Thursday.”

It’s Monday. “What, why? Three days?”

“I have a meeting with a client, the circumstance is too fragile that I need to go directly to them. They apologised for the disgruntle and so they added extra tickets for your mother. We know this is sudden and long, but I mean look at the plus side! You get the house to yourself, freedom! Just don’t, you know, invite girls over and stuff. You can invite guys, and girls if there are other guys, but, well you know what I’m saying.”

Wonwoo’s slightly annoyed he didn’t know about this earlier, and a bit disturbed by the turn the conversation made. He doesn’t know any girls though, so he’s flattered his dad thinks he does. He quickly goes downstairs to see the hallway lined with suitcases. He goes to say his goodbyes to his parents, letting them exit the door and get into the car with a wave. They pull out as he’s still waving, a bit hesitant. His parents have never left him alone for this long. 3 days?! What’s he going to do?

Turns out he doesn’t need to worry, as when he turns back, he sees a note on the bench from his mother, outlining exactly everything Wonwoo needs to survive the next three days, dinner, washing, looking after Milly, she thought of everything. Not that he didn’t already look after Milly.

He checks the time. He has 45 minutes until he has to be out of the door. By the amount of pages left and the pace he reads, he’ll finish the book in 35 minutes. That gives him 10 minutes to dress, pack his lunch and textbooks….

Yeah, he can do that.

He leaps up the stairs back to his bed and continues to read into his land of fantasy.

After he finally finishes the book he reads the clock. 12 minutes left. He wrangles his uniform on. 7 minutes left. He shoves his food and textbooks in his bag. 4 minutes. He gives Milly her breakfast. 1 minute. He heads out and throws his shoes on. 0 minutes. He starts walking on time and meets Mingyu at the junction.

“Hey Mingyu.”

***

“Hey Mingyu.”

Mingyu hears Wonwoo greeting him, he didn’t even realise the smaller was there. “Hey Wonwoo, how are you?”

“Disturbed.”

“Wha- Why?”

“My parents left me. Alone. By myself in the house. For 3 days.”

“What’s disturbing about that?”

“My dad was hinting at me to not have sex by telling me not to bring girls over. I don’t know any girls.”

Mingyu starts bawling his eyes out at that, while Wonwoo overlooks, unamused. They’re nearly at school when Mingyu finally stops laughing.

“Well, I hope you have fun by yourself, cause you certainly won’t be having sex.” Wonwoo rolls his eyes at that. “What about I come over?” Wonwoo’s eyes wide open. Mingyu realises how that sounds.

“NOT SO WE CAN HAVE SEX OMG!”

At that moment, they are just outside of school, and the pair can see eyes turning towards them. If Mingyu was watching this in a movie, he reckons right about now would be the time where he cringed from second hand embarrassment. But first hand embarrassment is so much worse…. Wonwoo hits Mingyu to which Mingyu responds with a faint ‘ow’.

“What was that for?”

“I had to do something you just froze.”

“Yeah because I just insinuated we were talking about having sex to half the student body. The other half will hear about it later, from the first half.”

“Don’t worry about that. And yeah, you can come over.”

Mingyu nearly forgot the point of the conversation in the first place. “Oh cool. I guess walk together this afternoon?”

“Yeah sure.”

***

It was a long day for Wonwoo, especially now that he had something to look forward to after school. At least he finished that book, which he returned at lunch before going back to his tree. He didn’t want to be tempted by the books again, or else he’d ignore Mingyu the whole night, and he’d feel partially bad.

He meets Mingyu at the front of the school as both boys greet with a smile. It isn’t all the time, but it isn’t an uncommon gesture between the two. Mingyu was the closest Wonwoo would call to being his friend. They started talking as normal while walking home, Mingyu automatically leaning towards the other side of the road until realising he wasn’t going there today. He had organised plans with the neighbours about Minsoo, so now the Kim house was yet again empty. Just like Wonwoo’s.

Not for long.

“Yeah so um… welcome to my house?”

Mingyu walked in and the house kind of resembles Wonwoo himself. It’s neat, packed away, not too vibrant but subtle colours show through. The furniture is strictly placed, but it all looks smooth and inviting. And dark.

Wonwoo flicks the switch on, and Mingyu stares at the weirdest sight on the counter. “Don’t worry, that’s Milly.”

“You name your pillows?”

“Mingyu. She’s a cat.” Sure enough, he strokes her fur, and the fur springs to life to produce a beautifully posed cat waking up from a sleep.

After that incident, and a fit full of laughter from both boys, they unpack in Wonwoo’s room, Mingyu taking in the sight, which again resembles Wonwoo. The two, not sure about whether they should do homework now or later, decide to just sit on Wonwoo’s bed and watch YouTube.

“You’re the first one I’ve had over here.”

“One? As in friend?”

“Yeah.”

“Well I hope, you only moved at the start of the year, and you’re not really close with anyone. No offence.”

“None taken. But I meant, ever.”

“Ever?”

“I didn’t exactly have friends at my old school either.”

Mingyu doesn’t know what to say to this, “Not one?”

“No.”

Mingyu doesn’t know why, but he feels like he has to tread lightly on this topic. However, he wants to know more about Wonwoo, Wonwoo before he moved to Marina.

“What happened at your old school?”

Wonwoo takes a big breath, bracing himself. He wants to tell Mingyu, he does. It’s just, he never wanted to think about it again, so having to recount it all would not be helping that goal. But, he tells his story anyways. The short version.

“When I was younger, there were these bullies who thought it would be fun to pick on me. They grew up with me, always taunting me when they could. They were the typical show runners of the school, and if anyone stood up to them, they knew what would happen. I was their example. So, I had no friends due to that, and no one who stood up for me. I moved to this school because someone took pity on me and told the principal, who told my parents. That was last year.”

Mingyu’s stunned at the revelation. If Wonwoo’s in year 11 now, that must mean a good 10 years of having those people, not even people, animals bully him. He wishes Wonwoo had moved earlier, wishes they’d met sooner, heck- Mingyu wishes he’d moved to Wonwoo’s school, Mingyu’s moved before.

“Why did you want to be alone then? When you first came to this school?” Wonwoo tilts his head Mingyu’s question, Mingyu seeing from his peripheral as they’re both lying side by side on Wonwoo’s bed looking at the computer screen. “If that had been me, my first move would have been to make as many friends as I can, get away from the old version of myself.”

“I don’t mind being alone due to what the bullies did to me. They didn’t exactly… physically hurt me. In fact, I was never touched by them in a more violent way than when they pushed me into lockers.”

Mingyu’s more than confused. “So… what exactly did they do to you?”

He can see Wonwoo take another breath. Maybe he’s prying a bit too much, but Wonwoo starts talking. “They harassed me, never leaving me alone in terms of privacy. I was followed to school from a certain point, followed to classes, paper followed me being thrown by them, I was followed at lunch unless I went to the library, then I was followed home as far as they wanted to. They made sure I never knew what a friend was, they stood around me like hawks. They made sure I had no social life as long as I was attending that school. Which they succeeded in.”

“They never left you alone…”

“Never.”

It makes sense to Mingyu now. “Now that you’re given the chance, you want to be left alone because they never let you.”

Wonwoo nods, the video on the computer being forgotten as Wonwoo turned his body on the bed to face Mingyu, Mingyu seeing him and doing the same so that their faces are mere inches apart.

“Imagine this. I come to this school, and I’m given all the freedom I want, right? Only to find out the first day, there’s this kid that wants to be my friend and tells me if I become friends with him, he’ll never leave my side. He offers the complete opposite to what I want, so I ignore the kid. But then, a couple weeks later, I find out the kid has been following me, just like my bullies did in the past, could you imagine that?”

Mingyu’s starting to shy away as Wonwoo says each word, realising how he sounded to Wonwoo.

“I promise I was onl-“

“I know that now, but back then, it just reminded me of those times. And I didn’t like it.” Wonwoo rolls off the bed to stand up. “Don’t worry Mingyu, we’re friends now. I hope…”

“Of course we are.”

“Well then yes, we’re friends.”

Mingyu props himself up on his arm and looks into Wonwoo’s eyes. “Wonwoo. Now I understand you a bit better and know what happened to you in the past, but I still think you should come join my group. They are good people, they will have your back, however they won’t be surrounding you 24/7, you have no need to worry. I mean god you resemble Ji right now, he hates people surrounding him for too long. If he’s stayed in our group for this long, I’m sure you’ll like it. Like us and be friends with us. All, including Ji.”

Wonwoo hears the words come out of Mingyu’s mouth. He’s not sure about what he should do. Now that he’s shared stuff about him and Mingyu understands him better, Mingyu’s used that knowledge to compel him to join his group more. He doesn’t know what to do.

Eventually, he rejects Mingyu’s offer and moves on, changing the subject.

The boys turn to homework, helping each other with subjects. Mingyu finds that Wonwoo explains English much better than the teacher, so Wonwoo and Mingyu spend a long time on English, Wonwoo helping Mingyu as much as he can. They then switch to history, which they’re both doing well in. It comes time to do maths, and Mingyu can see Wonwoo’s squinting a bit at the problems. Mingyu simply looks at him, staring for a bit before taking pity and going over to help. Mingyu’s better at maths and the sciences, whereas Wonwoo’s more on the creative side, so he goes and leans over Wonwoo’s shoulder. They spend the same amount of time on this as they did on English, Mingyu pointing over Wonwoo’s shoulder at certain functions and showing him rules to remember. After Wonwoo makes some progress on it, they give up and pretend there’s no more.

They go down and heat up dinner left for Wonwoo. Both boys sit there eating, when Mingyu looks over to Wonwoo for no reason at all. Wonwoo eats some more, but hears Mingyu not eating and looks back. The night ends in more laughter from the two, making it hard for them to finish eating.

In the morning, both boys wake up on Wonwoo’s bed, uncomfortably sprawled across each other. Wonwoo’s bed is not exactly the smallest, but it’s small for the both of them. The roll out of bed as Mingyu follows Wonwoo around the house, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, feeding Milly. The both of them getting dressed, Wonwoo eyeing Mingyu’s bare back as he takes his shirt off, and then go to pack their bags. They leave the house together, step by step, and continue on the conversation they were having before drifting off to sleep together.

***

Mingyu finds himself telling Seokmin about his problems with Wonwoo. He doesn’t know what to do, so what better thing than to go to the head of the school’s help service club. Oh yeah, somehow without Mingyu and Jihoon knowing, Seokmin created a club and now has around 20 members and is actually doing good to the school. And Seokmin, because he knows around 20 people’s names.

“I thought I was getting to him, he looked like he was actually thinking about it, but then he flat out rejected my offer and changed subject. I really want him to become friends with us.”

“Look Mingyu, not everyone’s as open to ideas as you are, so some take more time than you to warm up to ideas. Just let Wonwoo warm up to the idea, then maybe he can come join us.”

Mingyu just laughed. “You’re good at this, maybe I should send Wonwoo to go talk to you.”

“You’ve told me so much about this guy, but I still haven’t met him. Looks like the club isn’t helping anything.”

Mingyu starts shaking his hands. “No Seok don’t think that, you’re doing so much good for the school, keep it up. Just because you don’t know everyone doesn’t mean you’re not doing good enough.”

Seok stands tall at that. “You’re right. And tigers are cute.” Seok gets up and walks away from Mingyu, who’s left sitting at the lunch table, wondering where tigers came from. He decides, yet again, to take Seok up on his advice. He leaves the table, Jihoon distracted talking with Seungcheol, and goes to find Wonwoo. Of course, he heads to the library first, and luckily, finds the boy there.

He walks up the aisle after spotting his feet and goes to sit next to the boy. Wonwoo doesn’t look up, not surprisingly because his eyes are locked on the book in front of him. Mingyu scoots closer to see what book he’s reading and nudges Wonwoo’s feet, which finally grabs his attention. He raises an eyebrow at Mingyu.

“How are you?”

“Good. What’s up?”

“I was thinking…”

Wonwoo rolls his eyes. He already knows what Mingyu’s going to say. “Mingyu, I’m not sitting with you guys.”

“No please just, try it out? For me? One lunch.”

“No.”

“Half?”

“No.”

“An afternoon?”

“No.”

“Wonwoo! Open up your mind, we won’t be anything like those guys you used to know. We’ll be better, we’ll be friends. You need more friends to survive high school, literally, this place is a hellhole without them.” Mingyu half smiles at that, encouraging Wonwoo to consider the idea. Wonwoo doesn’t know what will stop Mingyu, so he goes back to reading.

“I’ll think about it. In my own time.”

“Reall-”

“Yes, now leave me alone.”

The annoyed tone Wonwoo says it in sounds like the end of conversation for Mingyu. He’s worried he may have pushed too far, but he knows Wonwoo won’t stay mad at him. Mingyu accepts and stands up, looking back at Wonwoo, who’s back in the world of fantasy already. He turns out and retreats back to his small lunch table, hopefully before Jihoon notices, but it doesn’t really matter if he does. It would just save explanations.

He gets back same as Seokmin, and both greet Jihoon just as Seungcheol’s leaving. Talk about timing. They talk about random events until classes start, to which Seokmin and leave Jihoon for their Psychology class. The rest of the day tires Mingyu out, not like he was already exhausted from yesterday. Him and Wonwoo may have stayed up until early in the morning, but it was worth it. Wonwoo’s really interesting, a kind-hearted friend. Mingyu’s glad he’s Wonwoo’s first friend. He just hopes he can help Wonwoo have more…

Later, after walking home with Wonwoo to the junction (Yes, he was fine, Mingyu had nothing to worry about) he’s so tired that he drags himself up to his room and just flops on the bed. Only to be greeted to the door opening.

“Gyuuuuuuuu I want a dog!”

Mingyu’s little brother comes running in, backpack still on his back as he grips the straps to keep it from falling off. He climbs onto Mingyu’s bed beside him and finds a spot to jump on it.

“A dog? Soo, we can’t afford a dog, we can’t even take care of one. And why do you want one anyways?” Mingyu rolls over to see an overexcited Minsoo, now staring out the window. He sees now, the neighbours got a dog. That’s why Minsoo wants a dog. “I’m sure if you ask them, they’ll let you play with the dog. They’d probably love it.” Minsoo’s face lights up before speeding off, bag thrown against his bedroom door out of rush, and bobs downstairs and to the neighbour’s yard. Mingyu didn’t even get to ask how his day was before he saw him out the window playing with the dog. Kids these days.

There’s not much time to be exhausted. He has to make dinner and finish his homework, and he preferably wanted to finish all that before 8. Then he could put Minsoo to bed and play games. Or sleep, he wasn’t sure yet.

He heads downstairs to start on making dinner, maybe hoping for a call from his parents, although there was nothing special on today. Just hoping.

***

Wonwoo lies flat out on his bed.

He’s tired from last night, but it was exhilarating. Like he said, Mingyu was his first friend over, so it was a new experience for him. Not staying up late, he always does that, but staying up late with a friend. That was something.

Although, they made a mess of the room. He went to work picking up things off the floor, making the bed, clearing the desk of chip wrappers and throwing stuff out. He may as well do another sweep of the room, he hadn’t done so in a while.

He throws out the bag of rubbish and comes back upstairs to check the closet for anymore. He finds it again, the box that says his name on it. He knows what’s inside but he still opens it to find his rabbit in it. He can’t remember what he called the rabbit, although he does remember playing with it. Everyday him and his friend would play with the rabbit, away from the sand pit because of the bullies.

The bullies… Wonwoo’s bullies. So he did have a friend, a long time ago. Too bad he still doesn’t have that friend. He can’t remember what happened, but he’s pretty sure those bullies were originally his old friend’s bullies. Then, if Wonwoo remembers correctly, he stood up for the other guy because his mom said being mean isn’t nice, and eventually became friends with the smaller guy. The only true things Wonwoo remembers about his friend was that he was really small at the time, and that Wonwoo protected him because he couldn’t. He really wonders what happened to the boy…

Maybe that boy grew common sense after the bullies started picking on Wonwoo and left his side. Yeah, that’s probably what happened. He doesn’t remember exactly when or what happened, but over time that confidence he had as a kid to shield someone else had deteriorated. The bullies made sure of that. No more speaking to anyone, looking at anyone, being anyone. His once strong wall of confidence had crumbled, and labelled never to be rebuilt again.

He’s had enough sadness. It seems he only gets sad when he thinks of his bullies and old school, so he shoves the rabbit back in the box and closes the closet doors.

He tries to distract himself, to which Mingyu immediately pops into his head. He misses his presence, it had made the house much empty yesterday, but he knew he had his own life to look out for, so he refrained from calling him. Instead, he decided to look for a flier.

He found the flier with Seokmin’s number pasted below and input it immediately, texting Seokmin.

 

 **You** : Hi Seokmin, it’s the guy who was fighting with Jihoon. Idk if you remember me but I have a slight problem and I know you’re the head of the help club, I was wondering if you could help.

 

Wonwoo doesn’t wait for a response, no one really texts straight away. However, He does get a response.

 

 **Seokmin** : HI! Ofc I rmb u ur the one w dark brown hair who was towering over Ji lol  
**Seokmin** : N sure anything I can do to help!

 

Wonwoo, relieved, picks up the phone and starts texting away.

 

 **You** : My friend wants me to be friends with his friend, which would be fine and all but I don’t like his friend. At all.  
**You** : And I’m most definitely certain his friend does not like me either, but my friend is very persistent.  
**You** : What do I do?

 

He patiently waits for Seokmin’s response, seeing that he’s read the text. He distracts himself with more cleaning as he waits. He hears a buzz from his phone.

 

 **Seokmin** : If u rly dont want to do this then I cant say anything to change ur mind however I dont think thats the case because then u wouldnt have texted me so I say u give this a shot if ur friend is rly persistent then hes not gna stop until u sit there so may as well give in n who knows it may b better than u think so dont judge a book by its cover  
**Seokmin** : N besides u may find that u slowly befriend his friend idk  
**Seokmin** : Point is my advice is to give it a shot bc later on in lyf u only regret the things u didnt do  
**Seokmin** : So go for it :)

 

With that, Wonwoo thanks Seokmin and turns his phone off. He thinks Seokmin may have cleared up his mind, and he’s right. It may not be as bad as Wonwoo thinks, he can’t think anything of it before he’s tried it. So he’ll try it. He’ll sit with Mingyu and his friends tomorrow. He goes to happily leave his room when he hears another buzz from his phone, probably from Seokmin. He quickly checks what he said, only to be faced with a text from an unknown. He opens his phone to the message.

 

 **Unknown** : Uh hi, soz this is kinda random but idk if you remember me? My names Vernon, or hansol, whichever, and you said you could help me with English if I needed, I was wondering if you could help me now?  
**Unknown** : This is Wonwoo right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I have the main plot of the rest of the story down  
> however i'm using tmr to organise everything into chpaters  
> but not too much because as I write I think of more ideas  
> also im going to write more chapters ahead before posting anymore  
> not because i like torturing you  
> but because i wont have much time in a couple weeks  
> coz of school  
> so i wanna make sure I have smt to show then  
> anyways peace


	8. Introductions... A Lot Of Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonwoo gives in, A lot of texting, and Jihoon gets along with Wonwoo. There may also be an awkward encounter in the library...

Wonwoo’s walking through school. He’s anxious to get to his next history class, he needs to talk to Mingyu. Finally, Seokmin’s advice got to him. He’ll try out sitting with them, but if he doesn’t like Mingyu’s friends, he’s going back to his tree. Or library. Maybe new school…

 

He calms himself down. It’s not going to be that bad. He just doesn’t want to be ridiculed, after all, he does have a weird vibe around the school already. It’s only been half a year, and he has only that going for him. Well, time to start changing. Hopefully.

 

As he bustling along, he bumps into a shaken Seokmin. Shaken from bumping into Wonwoo. Wonwoo takes a look at him and smiles at the kid.

 

“Seokmin! Hi, how are you going?”

 

Seokmin takes a good wince at him before realising who he’s talking to. “Oh right I talked to you last night!”

 

“Yeah, and I’m going to take your advice!”

 

“Oh yay!”

 

Wonwoo checks his watch. It’s five minutes until class, he wasn’t meant to be late but Milly happened so…

 

“Look I’ve gotta go, I’ll tell you how it goes later! Bye Seokmin!” He waves him off as he turns to fast pace his way to the classroom.

 

“Bye! Uh- what’s your name..?” But Seokmin’s too late, Wonwoo’s half way through the crowd. “Damnit, I forgot to ask him again. Why do I forget everything…”

 

Wonwoo reaches his history class, 3 minutes before the bell. He sits in his usual seat, and realises his endeavour to get to class early to talk to Mingyu was pointless. Because Mingyu never shows up to class until a minute beforehand. Wonwoo just moans, efforts to waste, and crumples on the desk, head in arms.

 

He hears Mingyu’s deep voice outside the class only seconds later, and sees him. Wonwoo watches him take his place and silently creeps up on the older to tap his shoulder. Mingyu’s, to say the least, startled but relaxes when he sees it’s Wonwoo.

 

“Hey Wonwoo, what’s up?”

 

Wonwoo has a brief hesitation, but he spits it out before he can take it back. No point second guessing himself now.

 

“I’ll sit with you at lunch.”

 

Mingyu’s eyes light up, and Wonwoo’s afraid he’s going to break out in song.

 

“REALLY!”

 

“Woah calm down, and yeah. I just have a problem.” Mingyu raises an eyebrow. “I don’t know where you sit.”

 

Mingyu chuckles. “That’s not a problem, stay at your locker after fourth, I’ll come meet you. You can meet my squad.”  
  
Wonwoo wants to hit his face. “I won’t if you call it a ‘squad’.”

 

“Ok, sorry. No squad. How bout crew?”

 

“No.”

 

“Posse?”

 

“I swear to-“

 

“GANG!”

 

“Kim Fucking Mingyu, shut up!”

 

The teacher walks in and Wonwoo crawls back to his seat as Mingyu chuckles after him. If Wonwoo’s meeting up with more people like Mingyu, then he’s in for a ride. And possibly a mentality check. Wonwoo’s about to open his book when Mingyu turns back to him.

 

“I’m sorry, I won’t do that again. It was just funny.”  
  
“No, it’s al-“  
  
“Mingyu, Wonwoo. Both of you, my office after second period.”

 

Well shit. Mingyu gives Wonwoo an apologetic glance before turning back to his seat. Seems the teacher is on his man period, and Wonwoo and Mingyu just happen to be the example that gives the class enough hint to not talk for the entire lesson.

 

After second period, Mingyu and Wonwoo meet up in front of administration, where they met that first day of Wonwoo’s, and walk in together. They knock on the teacher’s door and are welcomed by a turning knob.

 

“Come and sit down.”

 

The two boys sit down. Quite tense.

 

The teacher sits on the edge of his desk looking at them as both boys look like they’re inspecting their shoes.

 

“I was not in the best mood this morning. You talked as soon as I started teaching.” He points to Mingyu. “And you were about to. Not only that, but don’t tell me I’m wrong when I heard you swearing at this student here.” This time turned to Wonwoo. “I don’t know if you two are friends or not, but I’m going to make sure you can sort everything out and get all your talking done outside of class. In detention, this afternoon.” The two look at each other, fearing the unknown punishment of detention.

 

“Come back this afternoon. I’ll have something for you. And let this be the first and last time, it’s break soon boys.”

 

With that, they’re both dismissed. They stumble outside, still looking at each other.

 

“Ah well, can’t do nothing about it. Let’s go.”

 

They walk to their lockers together to grab their lunch and finally head to Mingyu’s table, Mingyu smiling and Wonwoo feeling slightly nervous.

 

***

 

Seokmin and Jihoon are sitting at the table alone. Jihoon asks where Mingyu is and Seokmin explains he has to go see a teacher. Not much after, Mingyu strides up to the table, followed by a smaller being.

 

“Guys, I thought it would be good to introduce another student to you guys. This is the new student here this year, Jeon Wonwoo, and he doesn’t have many friends-“

 

“Any.” Wonwoo butts in.

 

“Shh, he doesn’t have many friends so I brought him here.”

 

If Seokmin’s not mistaken he hears a growl from Jihoon, but turns to ignore it and look at the student who Mingyu has been raving about…

 

Oh my god.

 

“It’s you!”

 

Seokmin’s jumped up, pointing straight at a more than startled Wonwoo. Wonwoo takes a step back and looks down at his finger.

 

“Yes it’s me, we already know each other.”  
  
“Wait you know each other?” Both Jihoon and Mingyu question, obviously confused as they’re looking between the two.

 

“No.”

 

“And yes.”

 

“Kind of.”

 

“He helped me with multiple problems.”

 

“But you never told me your name.”  
  
“I didn’t? You never asked then.”

 

“I know. I’m really forgetful.”

 

“But yeah he helped me with Mingyu.”

 

That’s when Mingyu’s eyes widen. “But Seok helped me with you.”

 

Jihoon puts his head in his hands. “This is all such a mess.”  
  
Wonwoo agrees.

 

Eventually the initial shock wears out and Wonwoo properly introduces himself. “Hi, sorry for the confusion before, but yeah I’m Wonwoo, and I know who both of you are so no need for introductions. And I, uh, hope that we can be good friends.” When he says the last part he particularly looks at Jihoon, but Jihoon’s head is still in his hands, so Wonwoo’s unable to see his reaction.

 

They sit down and the conversation awkwardly starts up again, but before it gets too awkward, the bell signals the end of lunch. Seokmin says goodbye and makes sure to tell Wonwoo to sit with them again, then walks to his next class, Mingyu catching up to him. Jihoon’s still at the table with Wonwoo, and he goes to look at Wonwoo. Wonwoo looks back at him, about to say something, but before he can open his mouth, Jihoon stands up and goes to his next class. Oh well, he didn’t expect everything to be perfect the first day. Maybe things will change soon.

 

He’ll just have to be patient.

 

***

 

 It’s lunch again and Mingyu’s chauffeuring Wonwoo to their table. They both sit down and start talking about music artists that they love, bringing up many bands and soloists. Seokmin and Jihoon sit down and join them, well Seokmin does. Jihoon’s a bit quiet.

 

Mingyu faces him, “Jihoon, I’ve never asked, what kind of music do you listen to.”

 

He laughs a bit, “I don’t know if you’d picture me listening to it. Or if you’ve ever heard of some of the artists.” The others stare at him awaiting an answer, so he continues, “I’m more into American rap.”

 

Wonwoo’s amazed. “You too?”

 

“You listen to American rap?”

 

“Yeah, it’s intriguing. Some of them are like all up beat and meant to be jammed to and others are the complete opposite, calm and almost ethereal, and yet they’re all under the same genre.”

 

“That’s what I thought too. And it’s not just the composition, although most of them are good too, but like the lyrics are so meaningful in every single one of them-“

 

“-and they actually portray a message other than love, money or sex.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

Seokmin and Mingyu, aware of how the two started off hating each other are staring there in astonishment, turning their heads left and right as if watching a tennis match occurring. Seokmin’s mouth is nearly on the floor, Mingyu’s brain is about to explode of happiness. He knew it! He knew they’d be good friends.

 

Wonwoo and Jihoon are conversing over the table, talking about rappers that neither Mingyu or Seokmin had heard about, but it didn’t matter. They were texting each other so they didn’t interrupt the conversation.

 

 **Seok:** I CANT BELIEVE MY EYEZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

 **You:** I KNOWWWWWW

 

 **Seok:** I thought u said they hated each other

 

 **You:** apparently not anymore

 **You:** I told both of them theyd be good friends but none of them listeneddddddd~

 **You:** Idiots

 

 **Seok:** hahaha

 **Seok:** shld we leave n see if theyll notice

 

 **You:** Nah ji would still kill us

 **You:** hes pretty stubborn so hell still say he doesnt like wonwoo

 **You:** hell just mean it less

 

 **Seok:** tru tru

 

 **You:** lets time how long they talk

 

 **Seok:** Already started, 3 minutes strong

 

 **You:** Knew you would

 

 **Seok:** OFC :)

 

Mingyu and Seok start snickering across the table until Wonwoo and Jihoon finally stop spurting stuff about artists and hear them.

 

Wonwoo questions Mingyu, “What are you guys laughing about?”

 

Jihoon also questions Seokmin, “Oi, what’s so funny?”

 

 **Seok:** 12 minutes and 21 seconds

 

Both boys start immensely laughing at that, to which Wonwoo and Jihoon just look at each other and question. Wonwoo smiles a bit at the situation, and surprisingly, Jihoon smirks too. Wonwoo then sees how hard Seokmin and Mingyu are laughing, still, and joins in. Jihoon doesn’t join in, but he’s smiling with them so it’s enough.

 

It seems that this was enough to break the awkward tension, as after this the conversation seems to flow as naturally as it did before, and Wonwoo’s fully included. Everything seems to feel better, until Wonwoo remembers he still has detention that afternoon.

 

Mingyu pulls him out of that thought, “Wonwoo, what’s your least favourite subject?”

 

That’s easy. “Maths. It’s too black and white.”

 

“I could help you with that, I’m good at maths.”

 

Jihoon scoffs. “Good? You’re a fucking genius Mingyu, don’t let him fool you Wonwoo, he’s great and he helps a lot.”

 

Wonwoo laughs. “Helps? As in tutors?”

 

“No, well not yet anyways.” Jihoon throws the suggestion at Mingyu, unsuspectingly caught off guard.

 

Wonwoo hums. “Actually, I was thinking about that. Tutoring kids.”  
  
Jihoon’s interested, “Oh yeah? What subject?”  
  
“English.”

Seokmin stands up. “TUTOR ME SENPAI”

 

“Oh my god-“  
  
“Seok sit down fool.” Jihoon’s hushing him but silently laughing away.

 

“Sure Seokmin, I can help.”

 

Seokmin thanks him as Jihoon asks, “So how are you gonna advertise?”

 

“Actually, I already found a kid who’s not the best at English, and he has a few friends who also need help.”

 

“Oh wow cool.”  
  
“Yeah good job Wonwoo,” Mingyu points out, “At least two of us are doing something good for the school. We’ll get there Jihoon.” He starts chuckling to himself.

 

The rest of lunch goes on like that until they have to go to class, all of them splitting up this time.

 

It isn’t until that afternoon when Wonwoo sees any of them.

 

***

 

“You two, I found something for you to do. A new shipment of books has come in to the library, both of you will be helping unpacking, labelling barcodes and eventually putting them on the shelf. It’s not much, but it is time consuming so while you’re at it sort out any problems between the two of you.”

 

The teacher says this and both boys struggle to smile. It’s not like they haven’t done this before, they helped the librarian once with a small package of these, and they get to talk the whole afternoon while doing it. Possibly the best punishment considering some of the others they could have done, like cleaning out the boy’s locker room. That one’s a favourite.

 

They go to the library and greet the librarian, telling her of their task.

 

“I knew two fellows were coming but I didn’t think it would be you two, you sound like such good students. Anyhow, I’m still glad it was you two, I can trust you to do it properly.” She leads them off to the back and shows them an example book just in case they forgot from last time, then leaves them to it as she tends the books at the front desk.

 

They start taking the books out, making a mess, and go to label them all. There’s three tables, all arranged in a u-shape so that to tables are parallel and the other one bridges them at one end. The tables are pretty close, as the room is pretty small, so Wonwoo and Mingyu squeeze in and face opposite ways, sorting the books on their own sides. It’s been quiet for a bit, so Wonwoo goes to say something, only to be beaten by Mingyu.

 

“What’d you think?”

 

“Of your group?”

 

“Yeah, our group, what do you think of them?”

 

Our group. Mingyu’s back is to Wonwoo, which is good so he can’t see the massive grin on Wonwoo’s face. Mingyu already accepts him in the group. This is a first, very first for Wonwoo, and he kind of digs it?

 

“They’re really good. I mean, better than I thought they would be. Seokmin, well as you guys know I already met him, and he helped me with Jihoon and was the one who told me to go for it and sit with you guys.” Wonwoo hears both himself and Mingyu chuckle at that. “And Jihoon, well, I hate to say this but you were right. We do have a lot in common, a lot more than I originally thought. And I think I saw a glimpse of the friend Jihoon you told me about before. All I saw before was the rude Jihoon, but now I see a bit differently. However things are still a bit awkward between us.”

 

Mingyu listened to that and nods his head while reaching for the next book. “Things are awkward? Are they awkward between you or for you?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“English tutor and has to ask what I mean…” Mingyu smirks at that, leaning back to nudge Wonwoo in the side, causing Wonwoo to lean back on him as retaliation.

 

“Fine. Yeah they’re awkward for me, I don’t know about him but I’m pretty sure it is for him too, we’ll just have to depend on time I guess.”

 

“Ok, good answer.” Mingyu leans back on him again, the boy’s full backs in contact as they start leaning against each other in a war to claim dominance. Unfortunately, Mingyu is both heavier and taller than Wonwoo, which makes both of them know Wonwoo’s going to lose. Unless he does something.

 

As Mingyu’s about to lean back on him, he ducks down, causing the other to fall back a bit. As Mingyu falls back, he turns to grab onto something before falling and sees Wonwoo standing up again, facing him. And they only thing Mingyu can do to stop himself head butting Wonwoo is to grab the desk behind Wonwoo. Luckily, he finds a grip in time to support himself to stop falling, however it’s put him and Wonwoo in an awkward position, now that Wonwoo’s standing in between Mingyu’s body and a desk, their bodies pressed together and their faces a good inche apart.

 

Wonwoo’s head is racing. Mingyu’s face is so close to his, he could almost kiss him. But he wouldn’t because they’re friends. Why did he think that? Mingyu’s thinking the same, breath hitching at the sudden close proximity to the other male. Mingyu can literally feel Wonwoo breathing on him as he realises what this situation looks like.

 

Oh, and because life is life, that’s the perfect time that the librarian seems to walk in. If both boys were in her position and looking onto this, they both agree it would definitely seem as though Mingyu was about to kiss Wonwoo.

 

The boys quickly push each other away, as the librarian just turns around and walks out, no questions asked. They just look at each other, both of their eyes wide.

 

“Wonwoo, I think we may have just made our librarian think we’re gay. For each other.”

 

Wonwoo’s about to list why that’s a horrible thing, but he can’t. Because he’s too busy starting to laugh at the situation. Mingyu sees him and breaks out too, and then they’re both standing there, a metre apart from each other, laughing away at the strangeness of the situation.

 

***

 

After labelling and stacking all the books, the boys thank the librarian, who meekly thanks them back, and go home. The walk home is refreshing, they hadn’t walked home at this time since the last endeavour of trying to find Mingyu a book. They walk along the roads as they can clearly see the sun setting over buildings, but it won’t be fully dark for another hour so they don’t need to rush.

 

It takes a bit longer for Wonwoo to get home because he walked home slower with Mingyu, not really fussed about the time. He greets his parents as he gets home and heads up to his room, only to be reminded of the student he was going to tutor. He had already had a talk with Vernon before about his English, gave him a few tips and told him about the tutoring idea. He goes to text him to see if his advice worked.

 

 **You:** Hey Vernon, did that advice help at all?

 

He sees the message has been read soon after so he waits for a reply.

 

 **Vernon:** Yeh it did thx

 **Vernon:** Were you serious when you said you’d tutor us? I mean, my friends are kind of a handful

 

 **You:** Who are they? I won’t know them but I have a friend who might.

 

 **Vernon:** Uh well there’s boo seungkwan and lee chan

 **Vernon:** Know ‘em?

 

 **You:** Not personally, let me ask a friend.

 

Wonwoo exits the chat and goes to the next chat down, Mingyu.

 

 **You:** Hey, random question, do you know who Boo Seungkwan and Lee Chan are? They’re year 11.

 

Moments later he gets a reply.

 

 **Mingyu:** Yeah, theyre friends with hansol

 

 **You:** What are they like? Personality wise.

 

 **Mingyu:** Seungkwans a bit extra but in a good way,

 **Mingyu:** Hes funny

 **Mingyu:** Chan is a tough kid, will defend Michael Jackson til the day he dies

 **Mingyu:** Meaning hes very loyal but dont cross him

 

 **You:** Ok thank you.

 

 **Mingyu:** How do you know them

 

 **You:** I was planning on tutoring Vernon and his friends, Seungkwan and Chan, need help too. I was just seeing what they’re like.

 

 **Mingyu:** Oh if its for tutoring, then Im sure theyll be fine. Any kid if thankful for a tutor in a grade above them

 **Mingyu:** Theyre ungrateful if they arent

 **Mingyu:** And can you tutor me ;)

 

 **You:** Ok thank you for that.

 **You:** And maybe.

 **You:** Depends if you have money.

 

He goes back to talk to Vernon.

 

 **You:** I’ll be fine tutoring you all.

 **You:** How about we meet up somewhere on the weekend and I can meet you all and start helping.

 

 **Vernon:** Sure sounds good, as long as its on sunday

 **Vernon:** Chan and seungkwan have things on saturday

 

 **You:** That’s fine, should we meet at the state library or do you want to go somewhere else?

 

 **Vernon:** State library’s cool, they have vr

 

 **You:** We’re not doing vr.

 

 **Vernon:** I know

 **Vernon:** but they have vr

 **Vernon:** :)

 

 **You:** See you there, 10 am.

 

 **Vernon:** Okieeee

 

Wonwoo signs off, planning to go to sleep. He rolls around for a bit, before finally drifting off.

 

***

 

The days turn over, Wonwoo finding himself opening up more and more as he joins in Seokmin, Mingyu and Jihoon’s conversations. He’s even been talking to Jihoon alone, a big turn from their initial meeting and fight. Jihoon’s still hesitant, Wonwoo can tell, but he can also tell that he’s more accepting of Wonwoo than before. Jihoon smiles around him now.

 

Finally it’s Sunday, and he plans to meet up with Vernon and his friends. He heads to the library, taking a short cut through a kids playground, although there’s no kids there, and across the road to the entrance. Inside it’s cooler than outside, although it’s overcast the humidity is high. Wonwoo then realises that as he’s entered the big library, he doesn’t know how to navigate it. And he didn’t make plans about where IN the library to meet. Wonwoo’s just going to stand near the door…

 

He doesn’t have to wait long before Vernon walks in, with two others who are presumably Seungkwan and Chan. Wonwoo walks up to them and greets Vernon, Vernon taking the three to a room at the back. As they’re walking Wonwoo looks around and can’t believe he hasn’t thought to come here before. There’s a second level which looks phenomenally packed with books, and Wonwoo can’t wait to dive in.

 

But he needs to focus on the matter on hand, which is tutoring these kids. When they enter the soundproof room at the back, which Vernon had to book, they sit down and do proper introductions.

 

A boy with a roundish face and dyed brown hair steps forward immediately from Vernon’s side and says, “Hi! I’m Seungkwan, I don’t care what you call me, I answer to anything, and are you single?”

 

Wonwoo’s a bit taken back before the other student steps forward, chuckling, “Ignore that. I’m Lee Chan, just call me chan. Or dino. Whichever works for you. Nice to meet you.” The student bows his head as he extends an arm to Wonwoo, which Wonwoo shakes gladly. Although Seungkwan caught him a bit off guard, he likes all of them so far, and is looking forward to it.

 

“Ok, English time kids.”

 

Seungkwan pouts. “We’re not kids.”

 

Wonwoo smiles. “You’re younger than me, so you are.”

 

Vernon jumps in. “What about Mingyu?”

 

“Younger.”

 

“Seokmin and Jihoon?”

 

“Younger.”

 

The three boys eyes widen as Wonwoo silently laughs, he must be amazing them right now. He takes out his computer and English book and asks them what they’re currently learning. Time to tutor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok  
> I died writing that little library scene  
> and just because of that  
> imma write more unexpected slightly gay scenes between them  
> dont thank me  
> anyways from now on I'll be posting saturdays KST idk if I'll have a set time but most like if i did  
> the set time would be saturday 8:30pm KST  
> this is so i get more time on weekends and during the week to write so i can keep posting  
> coz i start school again soon  
> thanks for reading :)


	9. Different Interests and Heartfelt Messages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon takes a liking to a younger person, some rather precise bets are made, and Wonwoo starts getting surrounded by love... in different way...

The kids occupy themselves inside, away from the bullies as usual. However, the bullies have other plans. When Mingyu has gone to the toilet, they line up around Wonwoo. Wonwoo, around the same height as them but clearly outnumbered, is backed away into the corner, the same way they did to Mingyu. Wonwoo doesn’t know what to do, he wasn’t in this situation before. So before he knows it, he starts crying.

The bullies leave him, but not before Mingyu comes back to a distressed Wonwoo on the floor, eyes damp and arms wrapped around himself into a ball. He notices that these boys are the reason for this, and so doing what any kind kid would do, he stood in front of Wonwoo, protective like the day Wonwoo protected Mingyu. After they’ve gone, Mingyu approaches the boy, looking at him, and then proceeds to try playing with the boy. Little does he know, those few minutes carved a path for both boys. Mingyu started to be the one caring for others, not waiting to be cared for anymore, while Wonwoo’s personality turned, shutting people out, and becoming perfect target practice for the bullies who would come to grow up with him.

***

“I’m good at speaking English, it’s just the analysing part. I mean, who needs to analyse Shakespeare when they grow up? Name one preferably reasonable job that does that.”

Wonwoo and Vernon walk up the halls, talking about the tutor session that happened the day before. Turns out, the boys are actually all good with English, it’s just grasping the concepts that they don’t get. Either that, or their teacher doesn’t like them, which he can totally not see why, considering the amount of times he had to resort to hitting their heads for them to focus. Only lightly.

The two continue on their way when Wonwoo hears his name being called. He turns around to see a welcoming Mingyu, walking up to them quite quickly. He takes notice of Vernon standing next to Wonwoo, and raises a brow, before he recollects about Wonwoo tutoring the younger.

“Oh! You’re Vernon, one of the kids Wonwoo plans to tutor-“

“Has already tutored.” Wonwoo cuts in. Mingyu’s taken back.

“Already? That’s quick…”

“Well you know,” Vernon speaks for the first time, “business has to be pretty quick these days.”

“Agreed.” Mingyu’s still in the dark about how Wonwoo even met this guy. “So tell me, how did you get Wonwoo to tutor you, because before a couple days ago I didn’t even know he knew anyone.”

The two look at each other and silently pass a conversation, before Vernon answers, “Actually, I met bumped into him earlier in the year, quite literally, and he heard I was bad at English so he offered to help and gave me his number. And then I texted him a week or so ago, and now this happened.”

“Ah, ok cool.” The three maintain a normal conversation while walking, until Mingyu has another idea. “Say Vernon, who do you sit with? Is it still only Seungkwan and Chan?”

“Yeah, how did you know that-“

Wonwoo butts in, “Vernon trust me, this kid knows everyone. Don’t even ask.”

Vernon takes note. “Ok… but yeah, it’s only them. Why?”

Wonwoo sees Mingyu’s eyes glint and immediately knows what he’s going to say. But before he can talk to Mingyu, Mingyu’s already spilled it.

“Do you guys wanna come sit with us at lunch?”

Of course, being in a younger grade, Vernon would accept the offer and go off to his class bouncing with joy. Mingyu on the other hand, was left with Wonwoo, who needed to talk to him.

“Mingyu. I’’ve only been in your group for a week, but honestly. Don’t you think Jihoon would mind. I know Seok wouldn’t because, it’s him, but seriously. Jihoon didn’t really like me at first, and I’m older than him. How’s he going to find three younger students, not to mention they run amuck, sitting with us until senior year.” Mingyu does bite back on his lip.

“Yeah… you’re probably right, however I don’t know if you know, but I’ve kind of already asked…”

Wonwoo sighs. He just shakes his head and walks away, while Mingyu’s left following him, silently amused.

***

To say lunch that day was eventful would be an understatement.

Mingyu, true to his word, met up with Vernon, Seungkwan and Chan, and led them to the table. Jihoon was smiling at Mingyu as he was walking up to them, however faltered when he realised the three walking behind Mingyu were actually walking with him. To their table.

Oh god. Year 10’s.

Maybe it was something in all schools, but there was a unofficial official rule that years stuck to their own year. So yeah, this shocked him.

Mingyu stops to introduce them. “Seokmin, Jihoon, this is Vernon, Seungkwan and Chan. They’re in the year below us and they’re the kids Wonwoo’s tutoring right now. I thought it would be cool if they sat with us.” Of course you did Mingyu. You’re too nice for your own good.

Seungkwan and Vernon are bickering, while chan goes around to sit next to Jihoon. The nerve…

“My name’s Chan, are you Jihoon?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool. Do you like Michael Jackson.”

Yes, everyone’s heard of him. “Yeah, he has good music.”

“Yeah, he’s a legend. I can dance like him, wanna see?” He’d prefer not, but before he knows it, Chan’s standing up, moonwalking away, and then back to the table, catching the eyes of a couple girls across the room. Jihoon sees this, and thinks this guy may actually have a chance with them, and has a sort of new found respect.

“Hey, that’s not bad. I like your game little man.”

“Yeahhhhh thanks, littler man.”

“Don’t call me that or I’ll punch you.”

“Note taken, Wise one.”

Jihoon likes Chan already.

On the other side of the table, Wonwoo’s talking with Mingyu, seemingly normal, and they’re discussing of having study sessions together. Half year exams are just around the corner, and both need help in the others’ area desperately.

The last three at the table are having the time of their life. Seokmin and Vernon are hitting it off, making dares and doing weird noises, while Seungkwan’s laughing, telling jokes and cracking the three up. Jihoon looks over and sees them all guffawing at one of Vernon’s faces, and he decides to stay with Chan, who’s watching Mingyu and Wonwoo’s heads together, rather close together.

“Jihoon, is there something going on between Mingyu and Wonwoo?” Jihoon turns his head to see what Chan is talking about, and smirks. It’s not unusual for them to be like that, however Jihoon had noticed what Chan was talking about.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean romantically.”

“Oh no no, not that I know of. They’re just, close friends.”

“Friends? Ah I see…”

Jihoon thinks he can trust this kid, so he leans in to tell him a secret. “You know what though, secretly, if there were any gay couple in this grade, it would be them.” He leans back with a triumphant grin on his face. Mingyu’s warranted that, he was the one after all to follow Wonwoo for what seems a long time.

“That’s what I was thinking! But hyung, maybe they’ll actually get together…” He’s not wrong. In their school, there actually were a few gay couples, it was starting to become an open concept. People were more accepting of it these days, so it wasn’t unheard of.

But, Jihoon wanted to have some fun with this theory. “You know what Chan, let’s have a little bet on it.”

“Bet on what?” Vernon sticks his head into their conversation, and before Jihoon can say anything, Chan blurts it out to him.

“Bet that Mingyu and Wonwoo will get together.”

“What! Nah, I mean… hold up no actually I agree, 20 that they get together before graduation.”

“30 that they get together before next year!”

Jihoon knows how to play though. “Here fellas. 50 that they get together… In college.”

“What if they don’t even go to the same college?”

“Think, there’s not many colleges around here, and they’re both smart, and they’re both friends. A lot of people coordinate with friends, don’t you worry.” They all shake, memorising their prices. That’s when an unexpected guest comes to show up.

“Ladies how are you all do- Oh, I see there’s some new faces here. Hi, I’m Seungcheol, I did not mean to call all of you ladies, I just meant that for those three.” Pointing at Mingyu, Jihoon and Seokmin. “And who may you guys be?”

“I’m Lee Chan!”

“Hey, name’s Vernon”

“Boo Seungkwan, at your service.”

Seungcheol looks at a fourth, expecting a reply. “Oh that’s right, sorry, my name is Wonwoo.”

Seungcheol looks intrigued. “Wonwoo? Are you the newbie?” Wonwoo nods to which Seungcheol snorts at. “Well look at you Mingyu, able to get anyone to be your friend.” He teases Mingyu, and they all start talking again, and Seungcheol joins Jihoon and Chan’s conversation, which has moved onto star wars.

When Chan turns away after Seokmin calls him, Seungcheol looks to Jihoon. “I like that kid already, can I adopt him?”

“I don’t think you’re legal…”

“I’m 18.”

“You’re also single.”

“Not for long. College here I come. I’m gonna find myself a hot partner-“

“Not with that mindset, chill your hormones.”

Seungcheol only snickers at that. “I’m joking, of course I am. I’m going to focus more on studying rather than looking for anyone, I’ll have time for that later. And if something does come my way, then I’ll tackle it at the time.” Seungcheol heartily smiles, “But I really do like that kid.”

“Same, looks like there’s another decent human being in this mess of a school.”

Seungcheol scoffs. “Offended.”

“Besides you.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey Seungcheol!” Mingyu calls over from his side, “You’re graduating in half a year, how do you feel about that?”

Seungcheol sighs and looks down. “I’m excited, but scared as fu-“

“Oi,” Wonwoo stops him, “Kids around.”

“Scared as bees. Wait-“

“Really? That’s the best thing you could come up with.” Jihoon starts laughing manically at a faintly blushing Seungcheol.

“Yah! Laughing’s my job, not yours.” But he joins in, as everyone around the table is already laughing. “Anyways, it was nice meeting you guys, but I’ll be off.” He waves goodbye, all of them cheerily waving back. Mingyu’s brought into Seokmin and Seungkwan’s conversation, and Vernon and Chan are off talking about shoes, which leaves Wonwoo and Jihoon.

It’s not as awkward for them anymore, they’ve been talking quite a bit. Not just at lunch, if Jihoon or Wonwoo see the other outside of class, they wave and somewhat smile at the other. A comfortable greeting. Although, it’s been causing Jihoon to think lately.

“Wonwoo, here, I probably should have done this a lot sooner, but I guess later is better than never.” The way Wonwoo’s looking at Jihoon shows he’s got his attention, and Wonwoo listens as Jihoon continues. “I’m sorry about what happened earlier. No, I’m really sorry about what I did when we first met. It wasn’t nice at all, and I hope you don’t mind but Mingyu told me a bit about how you were bullied in the past, and now I just think that what I did was even more disgusting. I’m sorry for acting that way to you, I guess I wasn’t grown enough to realise Mingyu can have other friends. It’s just, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly the warmest character, and compared to Mingyu and Seokmin, I find it hard to make new friends. But that doesn’t justify what I did, so I wanted to apologise for that.”

Wonwoo is shocked. This was the most heartfelt and sincere thing he had heard Jihoon say to him. To know that Jihoon was sorry for what he did, and to understand better as to why he did it, made Wonwoo feel a bit better, but to hear that apology cleared his mind. A smile begins to grow on his face, as he bows to the other in acceptance. Jihoon, glad to know his apology has been accepted, bows back.

By far, this is the weirdest lunch any of them have seen. But it all fits.

***

Mingyu’s noticed lately that in class, well in English and History, Wonwoo’s been more open. He’s been answering more questions, listening and reacting intently, even walking around during study periods, to help others that need it. More people have been warmer to him, and now as Mingyu walks around the school with him, people are smiling at Wonwoo, not just at Mingyu.

Mingyu can’t help but feel a little proud. From the student who didn’t want to associate with anyone, to a student who is now helping others and receiving smiles from everyone. He’s a grown butterfly, and Mingyu may shed a small tear to that.

Later that day, Wonwoo goes around to Mingyu’s house. Since Mingyu has to be home for Minsoo, he decided to invite Wonwoo to his house for the study sessions. This meant that Wonwoo had met Minsoo, and from the past few sessions, he adored the kid.

“He’s so full of energy, how can you not love that.”

“It tires me out how much energy he has.”

“What? Tires you out?! I thought you’d never tire of energy.”

Mingyu chuckles. “You’d be surprised.”

They get through the door, taking their shoes off and unloading their bags before heading to the dining room. They would go up to Mingyu’s room, but no one’s home, so it’s just easier to spread everything out on the table there.

They decide to go work on Maths first, since that’s the first book Wonwoo pulled out. Wonwoo’s doing his given homework, and quite well, however he gets stuck on a few problems, which is where Mingyu helps. Wonwoo’s sitting down at the table and after asking help of Mingyu, Mingyu gets up from his chair across the table, and leans his head on top of Wonwoo’s to get a better look.

“This line, I can see the asymptote and know what it is, but I don’t know how to show it. Like, show working out for it. Can’t I just say it’s 6 because it says it on the graph?”

“No you can’t, here.” Mingyu puts his arm around Wonwoo’s shoulder and points to the equation. “There’s different tricks you use to find out. If the x here is the same degree as the x down here, then you simply divide the two numbers to get the asymptote.”

Wonwoo nods along, still lost. “Uh huh, and if the degree is higher?”

“Then there’s no asymptote.”

“What about lower?”

“Then the asymptote is 0.”

“Wait, so if the denominator’s degree is lower than the numerator’s then there’s no asymptote, if it’s higher then the asymptote is 0, and if it’s the same then you just divide the coefficients?”

“Yes.”

“Why did no one tell me this! I’ve been slaving over this for days!!!!” Wonwoo starts pulling his hair out as Mingyu stands up, hands on the back of Wonwoo’s chair as he watches the younger stress out but then turn around to thank him. After that ordeal, Wonwoo finishes all the problems and gets Mingyu to come check, which he does once again leaning on the top of Wonwoo’s head.

“Good job! You got them all correct.”

“Yay! Wow, Jihoon was right, you really do help.” Mingyu laughs, blushing at that compliment. “Ok, now I help you with English.”

***

After their study session, and eating dinner with Minsoo, excited yet again at Wonwoo’s arrival, Wonwoo went back to his own home to sleep. The morning after, Mingyu and Wonwoo are walking to school, passing the time until they get there. They start talking about the younger kids, and how the others liked them.

Wonwoo notes. “I think Jihoon really likes Chan. I could see them talking quite well.”

“Yeah! See, it wasn’t as bad as you said.”

“Hey,” Wonwoo’s hands up in surrender, “I only asked if you thought it through. Which you didn’t.”

“Fair point.”

They reach Wonwoo’s locker, planning to grab his books, go to Mingyu’s to grab his, and then walk to class together. As Wonwoo opens the locker though, he is greeted with a small box to the face.

“Ow, what the-“

The small box contains a piece of paper and a chocolate. Wonwoo takes the paper out, Mingyu peering over his shoulder, curious to see. On the piece of paper, a small poem read,

“I wish I could explain your eyes,  
And how the sound of your voice gives me butterflies.  
How your smile makes my heart skip a beat  
And how every time I’m with you, I feel so complete.”

“Aww that’s cute.” Mingyu says, still reading over Wonwoo’s shoulder. Wonwoo’s a bit puzzled. Maybe this ended up in the wrong locker.

“It’s cute, but I don’t think it was meant for me.”

“What do you mean, your name’s on the bottom.” Wonwoo blinks and checks, and he sees Mingyu’s right. His name is written in cursive on the bottom.

“Wow. Ok, so it is meant for me, but why…”

“Looks like you have a secret admirer!” Mingyu may be a bit jealous, but he’s happy for his friend, hitting him on the shoulder. “Must be one of those people you’ve helped out lately.”

Wonwoo stares at Mingyu in disbelief. “Do you know how many people that is. I help out in more than half my classes… And besides, do kids these days even do this? It’s kind of, I don’t know, old fashioned right?”

“Would you rather a confession? What if you didn’t like them?”

“No I mean, it’s cute alright, just unexpected. And I don’t know if I have the heart to reject anyone.”

“Well the way you’re going, you may need to.”

“Why is that.”

Mingyu sighs and looks at Wonwoo, who is genuinely staring up at him confused. “Wonwoo, now that you’re more open and accepting, people are noticing you. And not to like, embarrass you or anything, you’re fairly attractive, especially when you smile and your nose kind of wrinkles up…” Wonwoo’s looking at him in a concerning manner. “…and that stuff that others would notice. So I’m not surprised that someone likes you, and I won’t be surprised if more people do. I’m just saying, you may get some confessions coming your way.”

Wonwoo takes in the information, and feels very flattered about what Mingyu said to him. “Ok so, you’re saying, I’m decent looking and nice enough for people to like me. And that may cause people to confess to me. Do you get much confessions?”

“Occasionally.” Every week or so. “But I’m not looking right now, so I turn everyone down.”

“How do you do it.”

“Uh… I just say, sorry I’m not looking for a relationship right now.”

Wonwoo’s fascinated, Mingyu’s giving him love advice. “And that’s supposed to be nice enough but still get the concept of rejection across?” Mingyu shrugs and nods. “Ok, then I’ll just say that.” Wonwoo says, nonchalantly.

Mingyu gets flustered at how easy Wonwoo’s taking this. “No Wonwoo, I’m only saying that because I’m actually not looking for a relationship. However, if you are looking for one, then say something else because it will look bad when you get together with someone else.”

“But I don’t want to get with anyone. I just want to graduate.”

Mingyu gives up, the boy is clearly not into romance so he just lets him be. “Ok then yeah, use that.” They wrap the conversation up, Wonwoo giving the chocolate to Mingyu since he wasn’t that fond of chocolate, and walk to Mingyu’s locker for his books.

***

That afternoon, Wonwoo’s splayed across his bed, different pieces of paper covering his mattress when he gets a text from another unknown number.

 **Unknown:** Hi Wonwoo, its Seungkwan  
**Unknown:** I need help

 **You:** Sure, what’s wrong?

Wonwoo saves his number as he waits for a reply.

 **Seungkwan:** I’m not sure if you knew this  
**Seungkwan:** But I mean, it takes one to know one  
**Seungkwan:** What am I saying ahaha  
**Seungkwan:** So, are you and Vernon close?

 **You:** Kind of.  
**You:** I think we will be closer the more time we spend together.

 **Seungkwan:** You don’t… like him do you

 **You:** Of course I like him.  
**You:** Why else would I tutor him.  
**You:** I’m not going to tutor some kid who I don’t like.

 **Seungkwan:** No I meant like  
**Seungkwan:** Crush like

 **You:** Oh.  
**You:** In that case, no.

 **Seungkwan:** Oh okiessss  
**Seungkwan:** I like you

 **You:** In a crush way?

 **Seungkwan:** God no, sorry honey but I’ve got my eyes on someone  
**Seungkwan:** But you and Mingyu…

 **You:** What about us?

 **Seungkwan:** Oh nothing  
**Seungkwan:** ;)

 **You:** I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean.

 **Seungkwan:** I know.  
**Seungkwan:** Anyways, have a nice night!

And with that, the conversation ends.

The next day however, Wonwoo pulls Seungkwan aside to ask about last night, however Seungkwan won’t budge. Instead, Seungkwan drags him around the whole campus, distracting him and talking about random things. Wonwoo doesn’t fall for it, but he plays along anyways, spending the whole lunch with him. Looks like the two have found a friend in one another, because they regroup with everyone, affectionately pushing each other.

“Oh COME ON you have to have been to one before.”

“No, I’ve never been to the cinemas.”

Seungkwan gasps. “What in the heavens… That’s it. New best friend, I am taking you to the cinemas. THIS WEEKEND!” He links arms with an entertained Wonwoo, dismissing the dramatic gesture but being yanked along by Seungkwan any way, which causes a subtle stare from Vernon. Which Seungkwan noticed.

They sit back at the more crowded than before table, and listen to the others sharing stories. Their table now had 7 different personalities, and to Wonwoo, it feels great knowing he has these people around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like I haven't posted in ages  
> I guess thats what happens when you post weekly  
> but ive been writing like  
> everyday lol  
> anyways hope you like it


	10. Leaving Home to Go Home

“Are you doing anything for Christmas?”

Wonwoo and Mingyu are walking to school together after Wonwoo stayed at Mingyu’s the night before. Both boys have found a comfortable routine with each other in the afternoons, and with their friends during school. The past few days with Vernon, Seungkwan and Chan joining their group has been interesting, to say the least. But even in their own circles, everyone has a close friend or group. It’s Jihoon and Seungcheol, even though he’s not there a lot, which is turning into Jihoon and Chan, Vernon and Seungkwan, Seokmin floats around everywhere, which leaves Mingyu and Wonwoo.

Which is good, because Wonwoo’s most comfortable with Mingyu.

They get to school, the conversation moving onto various topics, and head to Wonwoo’s locker again. The amount of time they’ve been spending together lately should worry them, but it doesn’t. It doesn’t even worry Jihoon, because he’s going to get money from it.

Wonwoo opens his locker again and he, half surprised but not fully, sees yet another box. Mingyu, also not surprised, peers over his shoulder again.

“Can I have the chocolate again?”

“Sure.”

Wonwoo peels the chocolate and feeds it to Mingyu, who’s leaning over his shoulder, mouth open. Wonwoo opens the piece of paper and reads another short poem, Mingyu too, and both see the same cursive at the bottom. Wonwoo just looks confused at Mingyu, who shrugs his shoulders.

“I told you, you have an admirer.”

Wonwoo’s still trying to wrap his head around that. He half forgot about the previous box, but upon this boxes appearance, he remembers the conversation between him and Mingyu a few days ago. So he really did have a secret admirer? Wasn’t this something he only read in books? No one has ever even taken notice of him as a friend and now he has several along with a secret admirer. Life is weird…

Seokmin sees them around Wonwoo’s locker, and so approaches them from behind.

“Hi guys! What’s going on?”

Before Wonwoo can shut his mouth, Mingyu blabs out, “Wonwoo’s been receiving cute chocolates and notes from a secret admirer.” Seokmin’s watching Mingyu’s smile widen at the state of Wonwoo, who is furiously blushing now.

“This has never happened before. Never in my life.” Wonwoo mumbles, looking to Seokmin for help considering Mingyu’s on the verge of laughing, he knows it. Seokmin looks at Mingyu sternly, then continues to comfort Wonwoo.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine! It’s just an admirer anyways, and you should feel flattered. I think Mingyu here is just jealous he doesn’t have one.”

“Hey!”

“Hush, we all know.” Mingyu crosses his arms as Wonwoo breaks a smile while Seokmin laughs. He bids them farewell and continues on the way to his class, the same with Mingyu and Wonwoo, each splitting to go to their own classrooms.

***

“Jihoon, did you hear about Wonwoo?”

It’s lunch, and the boys are all sitting at various spots at the table, minus Mingyu. He’s gone off to help a teacher with copying papers. This leaves Vernon talking to Chan, Seungkwan and Wonwoo talking, seemingly close, and Seokmin and Jihoon talking.

“What about him?”

Seokmin mischievously checks that Wonwoo’s not looking before leaning in closer to Jihoon. “He has a secret admirer.”

“What?”

“He’s been receiving chocolates and love notes from a mysterious person.”

Jihoon takes in the information before his eyes widen in terror. “Oh no…”

Seokmin’s a bit worried for his friend. “Oh no what?”

“I may lose money…. To a goddamn sophomore.” Seokmin, looking confused as always, asks for an explanation. “Chan, Vernon and I placed bets on Mingyu and Wonwoo getting together.” He leans in and beckons for Seokmin to lean closer. “I think Mingyu’s the one giving them to him.”

“He can’t be, he was with Wonwoo when he opened it.”

“Think about it, who else would know Wonwoo’s password other than someone who is close to him.” Seokmin pauses and thinks about it.

“Ok… fair point, but still Mingyu looked jealous.”

“How? Was he there when Wonwoo told you?”

“No, Mingyu was the one who told me.”

Jihoon pauses for a moment there. “Was he smiling while saying it?”

“Yes?”

“It must be him. He’s probably smiling at knowing Wonwoo’s reaction, and may have looked jealous due to Wonwoo not knowing Mingyu’s the one giving it to him!” Jihoon’s grinning as he makes a little dance with his hands before pulling his hands back down. “But that still means I’m gonna lose my money to Chan or Vernon.”

“What did you bet?”

“That they’d get together in college. And I bet $50…”

Seokmin cackles at that, earning a stern look from Jihoon. That’s when Mingyu comes down to sit next to them, greeting them and swiftly joining in on the conversation, which has taken an extremely quick turn to Christmas thanks to Seokmin.

The end of the semester is turning to a festive vibe, with Christmas being only a couple weeks away. The lunch ends, and they all go their respective classes for one of the last times that year.

***

The boys all survive through exams, all feeling various ranges of success through them. After exams are done, break falls upon them, which they all happily return to their own homes. Mingyu’s at home with Minsoo when he hears a noise downstairs, and Minsoo running for the door.

“Mom? Dad! You’re home!”

His parents are struggling through the door, so Mingyu goes to help pull their suitcases in. His dad stands up and pats Mingyu on the back. “Of course son, we always come back home.” His mother stands there, beaming at the two boys and holding the arm of Mingyu’s father. By this time, Minsoo’s running up to his mother, clinging onto her leg.

Mingyu let’s his parents unpack and settle into their room, and he goes to his own. Later that night, Mingyu’s downstairs cooking, and talking loudly to his family who are sitting at the table in the next room. 

They start asking Minsoo about how his school is, and he tells them everything he possibly can about what happens at his school. He then goes on saying he wants a dog, to which Mingyu’s parents look at each other, weary, but only momentarily. They focus back on Minsoo, who tells them even more wonderous adventures of his life. When he’s finally done, and Mingyu’s just stirring the pot with the sauce, Mingyu’s parents ask about him.

He explains about his own mishaps while getting bowls out ready to serve. He serves them all out and sits down with his family, watching them eat his food. They ask about friends, to which Mingyu tells them about his new found friends. They already know Jihoon and Seokmin well enough, having met them a couple times during the time they were here, but they had heard nothing of Wonwoo, Vernon, Seungkwan or Chan, so Mingyu had a bit of talking prompts.

Mingyu’s glad his parents are back. He doesn’t see them much, but when he does, they finally feel like a family again. He does admit, he’s grown extremely close to his younger brother because of this, but he’d prefer to be a normal family, with normal parents who stay with him and greet him when he walks through the door at home.

That’s when his dad speaks up.

“Ok guys, I know it’s been tough on you two for the past couple years, especially with your mother and I out at conferences all the time, however,” He pauses, looking at Mingyu’s mom who’s eyes reflect excitement at the announcement about to be made, “We’ve decided that this year we’ll be staying with you guys. And not just this year.”  
Minsoo throws his hands in the air and runs to his parents, hugging them tightly and screaming yay. Mingyu’s shocked, but that doesn’t stop the smile from spreading on his face.

“But dad, what about the conferences? Are you not doing them anymore?”

“Of course we’re doing them, it’s just you guys will be with us.” Mingyu’s a bit confused at.

“Wait, so the conferences are going to be here?”

Mingyu’s father pauses for a bit, before pursing his lips and explaining to Mingyu, “No, I meant we’re going to bring you two with us. We stayed in around the same area this year and it’s going to stay the same next year, there’s a big project needing discussion and approval. So we’re bringing you both. We’ll send you to the most prestige school in the area, and Minsoo will be right next door, you two can walk to and from school together. You’ll meet so many new friends and love the new area, I promise…” 

Mingyu’s dad is going on about the move, telling Mingyu things he will love and get used to. 

Mingyu’s not listening. He doesn’t want to leave his school, his friends. 

“What if I don’t want to move?”

Mingyu’s father stares at him incredulously. “Why wouldn’t you?”

“My school. I’m a senior next year, changing at this time would be risky, not to mention I have friends there that I want to graduate with.”

“Mingyu, you’ve changed schools before and you were fine, you found new friends. You’ll find some more.”

“Yeah, that was when I was 6 dad. I’ve spent around 10 years with these guys, and only just gotten to know some more. I don’t want to leave.” And despite his dad’s protests, he gets up, leaving behind a now scared Minsoo, clinging onto a concerned mother, and a speechless father.

He walks out, quickly grabbing a hoodie from behind the door, putting it on and flicking it over his head. Luckily he had his phone and earphones in his pocket, so he takes them out and starts blasting music. Anything to distract him from what happened. He knows his parents job is crucially important, but isn’t he just as important to them?

He walks down to the rainforest, a place nicknamed just for it’s large amount of trees. There’s many pathways in the rainforest, which is why he likes it. Even if anyone tracks him to being in here, he can still easily lose them. He’s walked down these paths a lot, even ran down them back when he used to run. Ages ago. 

Mingyu walks far in, away from his house and closer to the middle of the rainforest, although he doesn’t stop there. Even though there’s rails outlining the paths, Mingyu knows there’s a beautiful ravine up ahead, and a rail right on top of it. He makes his way there, and sits on the rail, legs resting on the first rung while arms sling over the second. He likes it here, it’s peaceful, and his parents would never find him, they wouldn’t bother to come this far in, it’s too much of a hike.

He sits there, relaxing, until he hears something.

“Mingyu?”

***

It’s late, and Wonwoo’s dying for some fresh air. His parents are at home watching a movie on the couch, so he just slips out unnoticed, wraps himself in a scarf and beanie, and heads out into the cold.

It’s snowing, the usual around this time of year, and he trudges through. He wraps his arms around himself as he sees his hot breath steam in the air. He smiles at the thought of being a dragon, and walks on. He doesn’t exactly know where he’s going, but he finds himself walking through a park to the road on the opposite side. 

He hasn’t explored the full town, so he continues to navigate himself through, not particular about where he’s going. He finds himself walking up a street of shops to the end, and then down a little side path. There’s a bridge after the side path, passing over a fairly deep cavern, trees and flowers hang over the narrow pit. It’s a sight Wonwoo’s never seen before, but it’s a sight he thinks he will start to visit more often. He continues to cross the bridge and emerges to another small, spiralling down path. He walks the spiral path, which ends on a pathway, a main road next to it. He walks down the pedestrian pathway, heading into more trees and less city bustle. 

By now he’s probably been walking for half an hour, hour at the most. He can’t remember what time he left home. He walks into the trees, following the same straight route until he reaches an intersection in the path. He’s about to ignore it and go straight ahead, when he sees two familiar figures to the right, sitting on a railing overlooking a cliff of trees.

***

“Vernon?”

Mingyu’s turned back, and he sees a surprised Vernon, headphones on and looking like he was just out for a run. Vernon’s got sneakers on, running tracks and a loose singlet with a jumper tied around his waist. He approaches Mingyu, and leans on the rail next to where Mingyu’s sitting.

“Why are you here?” Vernon asks, looking out over the sea of green.

Mingyu pauses before saying, “Issues at home.”

“Family?”

“Yeah.”

“That sucks. I don’t know mine well, they’ve been distant for a long time.” Mingyu tilts his head at that, to which Vernon continues. “My mom’s from America, so she goes there a lot. My dad likes going with her and brought my sister, however I didn’t think I could study well there, so they left me here. Not like, abandoned me, but they know I’m old enough to look after myself.”

Mingyu nods, actually understanding what he’s talking about. “My parents leave me and my younger brother for work conferences. Except this year, they’re planning on taking us with them.”

Vernon pats his back in congratulations. “Well that’s great Mingyu!”

Mingyu sighs, shaking his head. “No it isn’t, it means I change schools for my senior year, and it means I move school. Away from you guys. I don’t want that.”

Vernon listens to him, nodding his head. He goes to sit down like Mingyu, and leans his head on the second rung. “Maybe you could do something like me. Stay here by yourself, and they can take your brother. It may even be better, you could study with no interruption, and then after that’s finished, you could travel with them. Everyone goes different places for college. Maybe you could compromise that way?”

Mingyu listens intently, and silently agrees with him. That is a way to do it, he could just talk to his parents about that. It would even be easier, because they wouldn’t have to worry about Mingyu taking care of Minsoo, because his parents would have him. He’s really glad he’s friends with Vernon, and even better, that Vernon found him at this time.

They both hear crunching behind them, but ignore it, thinking another person was just taking a stroll. That is until they hear their names being called.

“Mingyu, Vernon? What are you doing here?”

The boys both turn around to see a questioning Wonwoo walking towards them. Mingyu turns to Vernon, lost for words, and goes to answer. “We could ask the same thing, how did you find us in this?”

“I wasn’t looking for you, I was just in need of a walk, so I walked.”

“What are the chances.”

“Anyways,” He comes to sit on the rail, Vernon moving over so Wonwoo is sitting in between them, “what were you guys doing here?”

Vernon perks up. “I was going for a run, and then met Mingyu here. Well, more like what you just did.”

“Oh so you didn’t even come together?”

“No. And we were just talking about…” Vernon leaves it hanging, unsure whether this was something Mingyu wanted to share, so Vernon instead makes something up. “About soulmates.”

The look on both Vernon and Mingyu’s face is unforgettable, Mingyu’s eyes widening at Vernon while Vernon realises what he absentmindedly just brought up as a topic. Great, now they both look weird. However, the only one who doesn’t seem weirded out is Wonwoo.

“Oh cool. I believe in them.”

Vernon raises a brow, “You do?” to which Wonwoo shrugs and looks out over the ravine.

“I believe we’re in this life for a reason. If there’s a reason, that means there’s a path for us all, and along that path, you meet your soulmate. You don’t know when, but you’ll know who when the time comes.” The boys are all looking at the scenery now, hanging their heads over the rail and sitting, talking about life. It’s not that Vernon and Mingyu didn’t expect Wonwoo to be thoughtful, they just didn’t expect him to be thoughtful about this kind of thing.

They laugh it off and talk about more light hearted topics, enough to distract Mingyu to forget about the home situation. He finds himself smiling and laughing hard, especially with Vernon and Wonwoo by his side making witty jokes at each other. The three are squished tight, but comfortable on the rail, and just enjoy the winter afternoon breeze.

They talk for a while until Vernon starts cooling down, and even with his light jumper on, starts to shiver a bit, so the Wonwoo tells him to go home and get some rest.

The two boys say goodbye to a retreating Vernon, and continue the conversation. Wonwoo didn’t bother moving across the rail, so the boys are quite close, knocking their knees together every so often, and having a little play fight over who’s elbow goes on top. Mingyu won, and now has his elbow on top of Wonwoo’s, leaning onto it. Out of fatigue, Wonwoo’s finds himself also leaning on Mingyu’s arm, with his head resting against Mingyu’s.

The conversation takes another turn to soulmates, when Mingyu points out, “But, I thought you didn’t want to date anyone?”

“I don’t want to date anyone.” Mingyu’s face gives Wonwoo the indication of elaboration. With a sigh, Wonwoo continues. “If the right person comes, I’ll date them. What I mean is I’m not looking, because I believe I will meet them. Maybe I already have.” Wonwoo smiles at that, and Mingyu can tell in his voice that Wonwoo’s happy how he is now, which makes Mingyu smile.

They talk just like old times, just the two of them in the library, talking until late. It vaguely reminds both of them of the night Wonwoo invited Mingyu over. And thinking about where he slept, he remembers the predicament with his family.

“Wonwoo.” Wonwoo makes a hum of acknowledgement. “Vernon and I weren’t talking about soulmates when you came.”

“Yeah, I gathered from the faces you made.”

“Oh. Well, I was actually just telling him about my family.”

Wonwoo turns his head to look at Mingyu. “How is Minsoo?”

“Actually, I didn’t mean him…”

The unexpected turn to his parents has Wonwoo feeling surprised. “You mean your parents?”

Mingyu nods. “They came back for Christmas.”

“Oh how exciting!”

“Not really… They told me they’d be looking after us kids next year. By making us move with them.”

Wonwoo stays silent, not that he wasn’t before, but he stops thinking. 

Moving?

“You’re moving?”

Mingyu shrugs, “I don’t know yet, I had a fight with them about it, saying I wanted to stay.”

“And what did they say?”

“Nothing. I left before they could. And now I’m here.”

Wonwoo feels sorry for the guy, putting his arm around Mingyu’s shoulders for comfort. Mingyu just sinks his head onto his own arm, appreciating Wonwoo’s sympathy. They sit there for a couple minutes, in comfortable silence but none of them knowing what to say to the other.

Wonwoo breaks the silence. “So, are you going back there tonight? It’s really late.”

Mingyu hesitates at that. “I think I’ll just wait until they’re asleep, then sneak in. I don’t want to talk with them.” Wonwoo retracts his arm, using it as a head rest, and turns to face Mingyu.

“You can come over to mine if you want, my parents would be asleep by now. I don’t think they’ll mind in the morning either.”

Mingyu’s eyes light up at that. “Really? I’ll get to meet your parents?!” Wonwoo nods, smiling at his excitement. Mingyu wraps his arm around Wonwoo’s shoulders and half hugs him, Wonwoo just patting his arm and ducking out of Mingyu’s grip to stand up. 

“Come on, it’s already past 11, let’s go to mine.”

They walk back out, Wonwoo taking Mingyu back the way he came, although it was Wonwoo’s first time coming in, so he had to think about where he was going. One time, him and Mingyu were busy talking when Wonwoo took a wrong turn, Mingyu realising that the path lead to a dead end ahead. They had to walk back and go up the other path, but eventually they found their way out.

Wonwoo walks Mingyu up the street, the night sky not helping his directions, but eventually finds the spiral staircase. He takes them both up it before stopping Mingyu. “When I came here, I crossed a bridge before this, and it was honestly an amazing view. You should come here more often.” He finishes as they reach the bridge, but it’s too dark for any of them to appreciate it.

“Woo, I don’t see much.” So Wonwoo gets his phone out and turns on the flashlight.

Around them, the light illuminates many flowers of different colour and size, touching their petals in a way to make the mesmerising. Wonwoo even thinks it’s prettier than the first time he saw it. He shows the torch around, making sure to capture every petal within his light, before turning it off and beckoning Mingyu to follow him through.

“You were right, it was amazing. Almost as good as the ravine.”

“Nah, it’s better.”

“I disagree.” Mingyu’s got a playful smirk on his lips as he nudges Wonwoo, who in turn kicks the side of Mingyu’s shoe.

“Let’s agree to disagree. You have your place, I have mine.”

“Agreed.”

They walk back across the park, Mingyu a bit scared but comforted by the fact Wonwoo is leading him. Wonwoo doesn’t mind at all, he’s used to walking alone at nights. They reach the other side of the park, Mingyu realising where they are now, and walk up Wonwoo’s street. Wonwoo opens the door quietly so as to not disturb his parents, who by this time are definitely sleeping. He ushers Mingyu up quietly, nearly tripping over Milly on the way to his room. Mingyu files in after him and shuts the door.

It’s already past midnight by this time, but both boys are still wide awake, so they decide to find something on YouTube to watch. They click on a random video, however the videos just seem to be background noise to their late night conversation, which continues until they see the sun rising. Wonwoo’s extremely tired by this time, and has his head resting on his hands, lying with his stomach on the bed. Mingyu takes the initiative of putting the laptop back on the desk, before climbing over Wonwoo to the other side, accidentally squashing him.

“Ow…” Mingyu hears a muffled sound and apologises, Wonwoo just turns his head to face the wall. Mingyu turns on his side, although the rising sun gets through the blinds, not allowing him to sleep, so he turns to face Wonwoo, who’s already facing him. They duck their heads into their pillows and continue trying to get to sleep, both knowing they’ll hate themselves later on for staying up all night, and both not regretting anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so, I'm not quite sure how well I'll be able to keep up with the updating every friday  
> but i promis I won't forget this story  
> i just may be a bit late thats all :)  
> hope you like it so far  
> i try


	11. Affected? Affection?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of casual hang outs between friends, an intervention from Jihoon, leaving Wonwoo confused, and more than one gift being given...

Mingyu hadn’t brought lunch for today, as he left it on the counter after his mom had made it. Wonwoo, being a nice child, had offered for Mingyu to have his sandwich, and watches on as his friend gobbles down the sandwich. Wonwoo’s a bit hungry, but it’s better than losing Mingyu as a friend. He’s already scared of the bullies that used to target Mingyu. Used to target Mingyu, because they’ve now moved onto a new target. Wonwoo.

 

***

 

The next morning, or rather afternoon, they wake up, thanking the lord that there’s no school. Wonwoo wakes up first, glancing around at his now dimming room, only realising it’s late afternoon from checking his phone. He rolls over to see Mingyu to his initial shock, before remembering the events of last night. He sits up, ruffling through his messy hair and reaching to grab his phone again, sitting and scrolling through it for a while. He doesn’t want to wake Mingyu up, but he also doesn’t want to get out of bed, so he stays in the warm covers of his blanket, that is until Mingyu decides to, unintentionally, be a prick and pull the covers over. Wonwoo pouts, trying to pull back the covers, but the dead weight of Mingyu is too heavy for Wonwoo, so he lets it be.

Instead, he looks at the younger’s face. To say he looked beautiful in his sleep was not true, he looked like a mess compared to his usual state. His hair was flicked in various places across his face, his mouth open wide and nose squished into the pillow, however his eyebrows knitted together looking troubled, and Wonwoo pitied that.

Mingyu stirred a bit later, rolling over and nearly squashing Wonwoo a second time, before Wonwoo just flops onto Mingyu.

“Hey, get up I’m bored.”

Rubbing his eyes, Mingyu registers where he is. “Why didn’t you just go out then? This is your house.”

“I don’t want to leave the bed.”

“That’s your problem.” Mingyu states, and flicks the covers on Wonwoo’s head to leave. Wonwoo, caught in the covers, struggles his way out and goes to follow Mingyu, only to realise he’s gone to the bathroom. Wonwoo instead chooses to change into clothes and go downstairs for an afternoon breakfast.

“Wonwoo?” His mom’s come into the kitchen after feeding Milly, “I thought that was you in the shower?”

“No sorry, a friend stayed over last night, they were having trouble at home. I’ll make sure he goes back tonight.” His mother nods and goes back to what she was doing, looking for something from the kitchen and walks out again.

Mingyu finishes in the shower and gets changed quickly before exiting and going downstairs to meet Wonwoo. The two have “breakfast” when Wonwoo’s mother comes back in. She nearly walks past the table before seeing Mingyu and doing a double take.

“Ah, so you must be Wonwoo’s friend!” Mingyu, mouth full, hurriedly nods, afraid to look rude. She just laughs a bit at that, saying a quick greeting before waving and leaving them to it. After this, Wonwoo convinces Mingyu to go back home, knowing that his parents would be worried for him. He doesn’t need to say it, but upon checking Mingyu’s phone, there are multiple missed calls and texts from them, which convinces Mingyu to go back. As they walk to the door, Wonwoo offers to walk him home, but Mingyu rejects the offer so he can take a longer route home. Wonwoo shuts the door and walks up to his room before being stopped by his mother.

“My gosh that boy is handsome! I bet girls are lining up sending him gifts and confessions!”

Wonwoo winces at that, telling his mom to stop while quickly racing to his room of embarrassment. However, upon hearing what his mom said, he remembers the gifts he’s been receiving. He still can’t figure out who though…

 

***

 

Mingyu takes the long route home, for the purposes of less family talk. As he’s dawdling along, he checks his phone, realising he received a text from Jihoon the day before.

 

 **Ji:** If you aren’t busy, wanna hang?

 

He feels bad not answering, so he immediately replies.

 

 **You:** Sorry I didn’t see this, I was at Wonwoo’s house but sure we can hang sometime soon

 

It’s not long after putting his phone in his pocket does he feel it vibrate again.

 

 **Ji:** Whatchu doing at Wonwoo’s?

 

 **You:** I was having trouble, so I went to his to sleep over

 

By this point, Jihoon’s freaking out that he’s going to lose some money, however it doesn’t stop him from raising his eyebrows at his phone. He wasn’t completely sure the two would ever get together, but it was fun to bet on it. If he gets proven wrong however…

 

 **Ji:** Ok then, be safe

 

 **You:** I am dw I’m walking home  
**You:** I’m gna go, talk later

 

Mingyu puts his phone back into his pocket and continues on his way, meanwhile, Jihoon’s texting Seokmin.

 

 **You:** Seok!

 

 **Seok:** What!

 

 **You:** I’m definitely losing money

 

 **Seok:** AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA  
**Seok:** y

 

 **You:** Remember the bet I made with Vernon and Chan  
**You:** Mingyu had “trouble” last night  
**You:** And he went over to Wonwoo’s to “sleep”

 

 **Seok:** So?  
**Seok:** I wld go 2 a friends house 2

 

 **You:** But this is Mingyu and Wonwoo we’re talking about

 

 **Seok:** Ji I dont think u hv 2 worry  
**Seok:** Theyre just friends

 

 **You:** ok  
**You:** You make me feel less worried about losing money  
**You:** But I still ship them

 

 **Seok:** You ship them?  
**Seok:** Well then I ship myself

 

 **You:** Seok I don’t think that’s how it works

 

 **Seok:** S  
**Seok:** H  
**Seok:** I

 

 **You:** Seok-

 

 **Seok:** P

 

 **You:** I give up  
**You:** Anyways, Chan and I are going to the arcade tmr, wanna come?

 

 **Seok:** Nope  
**Seok:** Im 2 busy shipping myself  
**Seok:** :D

 

 **You:** Bye.

 

Jihoon carefully puts his phone on the table and goes for a glass of water, wondering how he’s going to distract himself this break. Besides spending time with his family and friends, he doesn’t really do anything else. He gets his computer out, just planning to play games, when he thinks of something interesting. Something he’s wanted to try out for a long time. He finds himself downloading, installing and reading many programs, but doesn’t actually start until later. Maybe he’ll have to go to a specific place to try this out…

 

***

 

The next day, Jihoon and Chan are walking to the arcade together, mildly excited and talking about their break so far. Chan’s enthusiasm seeps into Jihoon, who finds himself getting more and more excited due to it. They enter the arcade and Chan immediately runs over to Dance Dance Revolution, a dancing game. Jihoon wickedly smiles at this, knowing he can beat Chan, but to his surprise, the younger is better than him.

“How! I’ve played this a million times!”

“Well then I’ve played it a million and one times!” He cheekily grins at Jihoon, who just stares at him, groaning now. Another reason why Jihoon likes Chan is he’s the closest to his height, meaning Jihoon can show authority and make it have an effect to some extent. Although apparently not in DDR. They continue hopping from game to game, and the topic changes between games.

“Hey Chan, did you hear about Mingyu and Wonwoo?”

“No, what happened? Did I win?”

“No dimwit, Mingyu just slept at Wonwoo’s house.”

“Oh, that’s fine then, friends do that all the time.”

“Mingyu went there because he was troubled.” Jihoon putting emphasis on the word ‘troubled’, “and I know for a fact that Mingyu’s the only friend Wonwoo has invited over to his house. Ever.”

“Ever!”

“Mhmm.”

“But that’s like, over 10 years.”

“I know. So doesn’t that say something?”

Chan thinks for a bit, before shaking his head. “I don’t really. It would be different if they were sleeping together, or hugging constantly, but sleeping over is normal for friends.”

Jihoon considers this. “Ok, yeah you’re right, maybe I’m just overthinking this. But I still ship them.”

“Me too! Is it weird, I’ve never shipped anyone before, especially my friends.”

“Neither Chan, don’t worry. I’m actually surprised because I never do it, but maybe it’s because of the way they act together.”

“Yeah I agree.” The conversation dies down after that, as they head over to grab some guns from a game and start shooting the on-screen characters, making the most of the rest of the day.

 

***

 

It’s Christmas, and everyone is at home spending it with their families. Mingyu’s back home, awkward tension between him and his parents, however it’s all forgotten on the day. Minsoo’s running around exciting and in an opening presents frenzy. Wonwoo’s at his home, giving his own parents their gifts. Vernon’s skyping his family, even though it’s still the day before for them, and the others are all enjoying their own time spent with families.

The festive spirit is still alive when New Year comes around, however after January first, Christmas trees are coming down, and the students are getting ready to go back to school. There’s still a couple of days left however, and Jihoon’s found that composing music (Yes, the way he entertained himself during the holidays) is fun, but tiring. He goes to text Mingyu, but ends up texting Wonwoo.

 

 **You:** Hey, are you free today?

 

He goes back to working on his music, and in 20 minutes time, he sees his screen light up with a text from Wonwoo.

 

 **Wonwoo:** Yes, did you want to go somewhere?

 

 **You:** Yeh, meet at mall at 12?

 

 **Wonwoo:** Ok.

 

Jihoon packs away his stuff, making sure all the equipment is left tidy and untangled, and then heads out the door. He has 20 minutes to get to the mall, although which shop he’s meeting Wonwoo at, he doesn’t know. He gets there with a few minutes to spare and sees a text from Wonwoo a minute earlier.

Wonwoo: I’m at the food court.

Jihoon doesn’t reply, and instead walks a few shops to the right and sees the food court. He circles around, not spotting him at first, but then seeing the familiar face.

They both wave at each other, not over the top like Seokmin and Mingyu would, just a shy wave of acknowledgement, and go to meet each other.

“Hey Ji, so where do you want to go?”

“I didn’t plan that.”

“I didn’t either.”

“Let’s just walk around.”

“Sounds good to me.”

They walk around, talking about the latest shoes in shops and clothes, although both topics die because they barely know anything about them. Jihoon then makes a brave decision.

“Wonwoo, what do you think of Mingyu.”

Wonwoo ponders at that, wondering why he would ask. “He’s a good friend, probably the best I’ve ever had. I thank him for looking after me.”

Jihoon nods at that, but still not sure as to whether he means more than that. “Another question, have you ever had a crush.”

“Crush? No, I don’t think I have. No one’s really caught my attention.”

“No one? So, you don’t even know what it feels like to have a crush?”

“Yeah. I never really talked to people at my old school.”

“I know but what about here, you talk to people here.”

He still thinks about that. “No, I don’t really find myself looking at girls.”

“What about at guys?”

“You mean I’m gay?”

“No I’m not saying that I’m asking, if you aren’t looking at girls, are you looking at guys?”

“Um… I don’t know.”

“What about Mingyu?”

“Why Mingyu.”

“Ok, you’ve got to admit he’s handsome.”

“Do you have a crush on Mingyu?”

“No I- I mean what do you think of that.”

“Uh…” Wonwoo doesn’t know what to think, mainly because he doesn’t know what he feels towards Mingyu. If it’s what Jihoon said, that he doesn’t look at girls then he could possibly be gay, then does that mean he likes Mingyu?

Surely he would know if he did. Right?

Jihoon sees Wonwoo’s reaction at that, and decides to let it go, the questioning sounding a bit more like an interrogation now. Instead, he drags Wonwoo off to see more shops. Wonwoo, still conflicted, finds himself suddenly being pulled into a candy store as Jihoon whispers to him.

“That’s Vernon right?”

Wonwoo looks up and sees Vernon inside, so they go up to greet him, talking about their own break and Christmas adventures. Eventually, they all leave the shop empty handed and cruise around by themselves, Wonwoo and Jihoon happy that they found a new person to lug around.

After all departing, Vernon saying he needs to grab something and Jihoon saying he needs to finish some work, Wonwoo makes his way home, happy with himself. Although still questioning what he thinks of Mingyu…

 

***

 

It’s back to usual routine, and Mingyu and Wonwoo are walking to school together, Wonwoo looking at Mingyu weirdly but Mingyu ignoring it. They get to school, and Mingyu remembers the gifts that Wonwoo used to get, wondering if he’s still receiving them. Wonwoo opens the locker, but nothing pops out to Mingyu’s surprise. Not to Wonwoo’s though, because he’s forgotten all about it.

“You didn’t get a gift today.”

“What?”

“Your little admirer. They didn’t give you a gift.”

The memory hits Wonwoo. “You’re just sad you don’t get chocolate.”

“Yeah.” He snickers, laughing at how well Wonwoo knows him. “But the chocolates are good.”

“They’re standard chocolates, go to the store and buy them yourself.”

“Then I’ll just start eating them all.”

“I can’t deal with you.” Wonwoo shuts his locker, amused and shaking his head in playful disappointment at Mingyu. They walk together to their next class. People have started recognising the pair together all the time, acting inseparable, and start looking their way. If it wasn’t enough that Mingyu was one of the hottest in the year, but Wonwoo, the new addition, was by his side looking equally as handsome to the taller. It was kind of hard not to attract attention.

They split off and go to their classrooms, which are now in the same block, and don’t see each other again until lunch. Just after the bell rings to go to lunch, Wonwoo finds Jihoon dragging him away to talk.

“Wonwoo, about what I said before, when we were at the shops, forget it.”

“What? Why?”

“I was just being weird, ignore me.”

“But I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”

“About what?”

“Whether I like Mingyu or not.”

“Really? You’re actually giving it thought?”

“Well, yes. I’m open-minded, so the idea doesn’t phase me much. However, I’m just not sure about it.”

“Um… well if you need help you can always talk to me.”

“Thanks Jihoon, I’ll take note of that.”

Jihoon gives a hesitant smile before leaving, hearing Seungcheol calling his name. Wonwoo looks after the smaller, and approaches his own table, sitting next to Vernon, opposite to Mingyu. Now that Jihoon brought the topic to his attention, he’s having a hard time taking it off his mind whenever he sees Mingyu, and he’s started to notice things he didn’t before. The way his mouth turns up on one side before he smiles properly, the way he tilts his head to look down at Wonwoo, all little things that shouldn’t affect a friend.

But Wonwoo’s starting to be affected by them.

Affected? Affection? For Mingyu?

He doesn’t know anything anymore.

It’s start of term, which means they get their grades back from the previous year. Everyone’s exchanging grades at the table congratulating those who did well. Vernon, Chan and Seungkwan all circle Wonwoo, hugging him for their English grades. All of the boys passed with flying colours, and Seungkwan’s so happy he didn’t care about his fail in maths, although Wonwoo tells him to go to Mingyu for that.

While Wonwoo’s distracted and talking with the others at the table, Vernon beckons Seungkwan and Chan over.

“We should get something for Wonwoo. He did help us a lot.”

Chan aggressively nods, “Yes I agree, we should get him a book!”

Seungkwan turns his nose up at that. “A book?”

“But Jihoon says he likes books.”

“Yeah Kwan, Chan’s right Wonwoo loves books. Should we ask Mingyu to ask about a book he wants? We can’t just get a random one, he’s probably read it.”

“Sure then.” Seungkwan agrees, while Chan continues nodding, saying he’ll ask Mingyu. When he gets the chance, he approaches the taller.

“Mingyu, can you ask what kind of book Wonwoo likes. Preferably one he hasn’t read, we’re going to get him a gift.”

Mingyu smiles. “That’s thoughtful, and sure I’ll ask now.”

Chan wonders away to regroup with Seungkwan and Vernon, while Mingyu joins Wonwoo’s conversation with Seokmin, eventually stealing him away when Vernon calls Seokmin over.

“Hey Woo, what books do you like?”

“What kind of question is that. I like every book.”

“Oh, so if I were tog et you a dictionary, you’d read that?”

Wonwoo stays silent, staring the other down. “That was sarcasm wasn’t it.”

“Yes it was sarcasm. But I’m being serious, what books do you like, ones that you haven’t read.”

“50 shades of grey.”

“WHAT! No, choose another.”

“Twilight.”

“Set yourself standards.”

“Hey, the books are better than the movie.”

“Moving on.”

Wonwoo sighs. “If you really want to know, then there’s a book I’ve seen the movie of, but am yet to read because I always forget to check the shelves. The colour purple.”

Mingyu smiles, thanking him and moves the topic onto, surprisingly, favourite colours. Then favourite animals, then birthdays. They know each others birthdays, but they don’t know the others.

“Hey guys, when’s your birthdays?”

“Mine’s February 11.”

“Feb 18”

“Next week.”

“Seungkwan really?” Wonwoo asks, and Seungkwan proudly smiles. They talk more about birthdays, planning to go somewhere for Seungkwan, Vernon and Chan’s, a collective party for the three. Mingyu pulls Chan aside, telling him the book, and Chan relays to Vernon and Seungkwan.

The rest of the week goes normal for the boys, Vernon going out and getting the designated book for Wonwoo, and wrapping it. Seungkwan buys a card and signs it saying all his appreciation, leaving barely enough space for Chan and Vernon to sign, but they manage. On Monday, the boys text Mingyu, asking him to bring Wonwoo to the library, however Mingyu and Wonwoo are a bit distracted by something in Wonwoo’s locker.

It’s another gift.

“So it’s still happening?”

“Yep.” Wonwoo states, popping the p. Mingyu’s amused by that, seeing as Wonwoo’s not sure whether he likes the gifts or not, but Mingyu’s happy because he gets to eat the chocolate. Mingyu leans over Wonwoo again, completely normal for him, however for Wonwoo it’s a bit close, and he’s started to realise just how close the two of them act. He quickly shoves the chocolate in his mouth and ducks out of the youngers way.

Mingyu does as promised, and takes Wonwoo to the library, where they find Vernon, Seungkwan and Chan all standing outside, shoulder to shoulder and giggling like a bunch of school girls. Oh God.

“What did you guys do?” Wonwoo seems mildly worried, however Vernon comes up to reassure him.

“Don’t worry we didn’t do anything bad, we’re just excited because we wanted to give you this.” At that point, Chan holds out a book and Seungkwan a card, both of them looking as equally pleased as Vernon. Wonwoo sees the title of the book and makes the connection, thanks all of them, including Mingyu, and opens the card to read what it says.

“You guys really didn’t have to do this, but I appreciate it all the same thank you.”

Mingyu gives each of them a hi five, all four of them now acting like primary school girls, while Wonwoo shakes his head but laughs with them.

 

***

 

It’s after school, and Wonwoo’s at home studying. He hadn’t yet gotten around to studying at Mingyu’s and right now he’s a bit glad. He doesn’t know what he feels towards Mingyu, so spending more time with the taller does not help. He focuses his train of thought back to the subject at hand when he receives a text.

 

 **Vernon:** Hey, has seungkwan talked to you recently?

 

 **You:** About what?

 

 **Vernon:** idk

 

Wonwoo stares at the screen in bewilderment. What does he mean “has he talked to you recently”, of course he has.

 

 **You:** Of course I’ve talked to Seungkwan, I see him every lunch.

 

 **Vernon:** I didn’t mean that  
**Vernon:** I meant liek  
**Vernon:** Has he talked about me?

 

 **You:** No I don’t think so.  
**You:** Do you want me to talk to him for you about something?

 

 **Vernon:** No!  
**Vernon:** No don’t please  
**Vernon:** I was just wondering  
**Vernon:** If he does, could you tell me tho?

 

 **You:** Sure.  
**You:** I’m guessing tell you without telling him I’m telling you.

 

 **Vernon:** You got it ;)

 

Wonwoo says a quick bye and exits the chat going back to homework.

 

***

 

The boys find that the rest of the academic year runs quite quickly, all having their own problems. Vernon and Seungkwan seem to be fighting a lot, not serious of course but more frequent, little fights, while Chan is stuck in the middle trying his best to get them to talk it through. Jihoon’s continuing to work on his music, finding joy in that, but realising his grades are slipping. Seokmin seems fine. Mingyu’s still conflicted about his family, but makes sure to look after Minsoo, putting him before anything else, and Wonwoo’s home life is fairly normal compared to the others, however he’s more conflicted about Mingyu. His feelings for Mingyu. He’s not sure whether to bring it up with Jihoon again, mainly because it’s a subject he’s not used to talking about, but it seems he doesn’t need to bring it up. Not to Jihoon anyways.

Because Seungkwan approaches him and tells him the most insane thing.

“You like Mingyu don’t you?”

 

***

 

Exams are here yet again, and just around the corner is the senior graduation, which means only one thing.

 

Senior year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI!  
> So I did end up updating, I didn't think I would because on Tuesday (3 days ago) none of this was written  
> However long bus rides and time in class is a thing so yeh  
> also, I've been thinking how there's a lack of angst here  
> may need to change that up soon...  
> also i was thinking of doing a chat fic but i wasn't sure...  
> stay tuned >:)
> 
> (P.S OMG IM DYING AT THE TEASERS IM LEGIT PLAYING THEM ON LOOP HELP ME I FOUND THE 30 SECOND BOP OF THE CENTURYYYYYYYYYYY)


	12. Breaks And A Senior Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seungcheol graduates, the break starts, and someone has to leave for a while...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look at end notes for structure on the future of this story :)

“We congratulate the graduates of Marina High!”

Cheers erupt around the stadium as all the graduates excite each other and plan for the future. Jihoon, Mingyu and Seokmin are in the stands cheering for Seungcheol, who’s now sporting a royal blue robe, one of the school colours. After the ceremony, there’s a bit of time before the seniors are whisked away to go who knows where, so the three leave Wonwoo, Vernon, Seungkwan and Chan to go talk to him.

“Finally left this hellhole?”

“Yeah, and it already feels great!” Seungcheol grins down at Jihoon, the smaller showing his happiness for him with a wide smile back. It’s then Seokmin and Mingyu’s turn, and they tackle the older in hugs. Everyone’s joyous for him, however it’s a bittersweet memory that he won’t be around next year.

“What am I going to do without my favourite Juniors?”

All three chorus back in unison. “What are we going to do without our favourite Senior?”

Seungcheol gives a small chuckle, appreciating their friendship, “Don’t worry guys, I’ll make sure to text you all and tell you how it goes. Are you all going to Bridgemont?”

Jihoon and Seok nod, and Mingyu mumbles, “It’s the only college anywhere near this place.”

They get to chat about a few more topics, until the Seniors go away for photos and another, more private, ceremony, which leaves Jihoon, Mingyu and Seokmin by themselves in the crowd.

“Let’s go find the others.”

They head back to school, knowing the youngsters probably would have gone to class. Mingyu doesn’t know if Wonwoo had too, but he’d have to check. Even though it was the senior’s graduation, they all still had two weeks left of school, so off to classes it was. They don’t end up finding anyone, so they all split up and mention meeting up at lunch. 

Like planned, they all regroup at lunch, with the topic of graduation still on their minds, and the approaching end of year exams reminding them they’re nearly in senior year. Well, some of them.

“I feel like I’m never going to graduate it’s been that long.”

“Chan, we’re in the same year as you. You will graduate.”

“I know but still… Why does it take so long?”

“Life is long.”

“Wow, so deep.” Seungkwan gawks at Vernon’s philosophical words to Chan, as the four older boys just look on in amusement. 

They all start their own conversations, and move to other topics, Mingyu and Wonwoo sitting comfortably close and talking to each other.

“So, anymore gifts?”

Wonwoo lifts his head up, remembering something. “Yeah actually, I have some chocolate for you.” He takes two out of his pocket and doesn’t hesitate to unwrap them. He places the chocolate near Mingyu’s mouth, feeding them to Mingyu, who thanks him and places his hand absentmindedly on Wonwoo’s thigh. Unbeknownst to them, Jihoon is subtly hitting Seokmin, while Seokmin smiles through the pain.

Jihoon tries whispering as hard as he can. “Seok! You can’t tell me all friends do THAT!”

Seokmin agrees but stops Jihoon from hitting him and just watch on, although there’s not much else to comment on except their close proximity. They’re completely unaware that Mingyu’s hand is currently resting on Wonwoo’s thigh, Mingyu not really noticing compared to Wonwoo, who’s freaking out. He can feel the warmth from his hand and he doesn’t want him to move it, his heart beating abnormally faster.

Wonwoo finds every interaction with Mingyu like that now, Mingyu does something or says something, and Wonwoo’s heart thinks it’s a good reason to beat faster. Is this what having a crush feels like? He’ll have to ask Jihoon.

***

Exams creep up on them again, and before they know it, they’re sitting in the exam hall for maths, filling out their names and listening to the examiner. Mingyu is a diagonal in front of Wonwoo, and despite the “no talking” rule, Mingyu looks back at Wonwoo and leans towards himh.

“I know maths isn’t your strong suite, but imagine like I’m working through them with you. Think about what you need to do and do it.” He gives a soft smile and turns forward, Wonwoo greatly appreciating the support from his friend. He reminds himself to encourage him during the English test too.

The end of the exam block reaches them, which means only one thing.

“SCHOOL BREAK!”

***

Mingyu and Wonwoo walk home together for the last time as Juniors, Mingyu planning to go to Wonwoo’s house and chill before breaking the bad news. It seems that everyone was planning many great things throughout the break, but he won’t be able to participate. 

He talked with his parents at Christmas and told them Vernon’s advice, asking to stay back for Senior year. They agreed, on the condition that Mingyu spend the whole break travelling with them, meaning he misses out on the time with his friends. He still has a couple days before leaving, so he plans to spend them well. 

First night off, Wonwoo and Mingyu hang out at Wonwoo’s, Mingyu suggesting to watch some movies to get their minds off the exams. Wonwoo, excited at the thought of watching movies with him, and fumbles getting the list of movies up on his computer. They scroll through, looking at old movies, but don’t find anything they really like.

“Hey, there’s a new movie in cinemas right now, how about we go see that tomorrow?” Mingyu throws the offer out, to which Wonwoo thankfully accepts. He can spend more time with Mingyu.

Why is that such a big deal?

They end up re-watching the whole Step up franchise, causing them to be awake longer than the last time Mingyu stayed over. Going to sleep is easy for them, as they’ve already tangled themselves up throughout the course of the movies. In the first they were normal, second Mingyu slouched down and leant on Wonwoo’s shoulder, third Wonwoo also slouched from exhaustion and it ended up with Mingyu’s arm around his head and leaning on Mingyu’s shoulder, the fourth they were very tired by this time, so Mingyu leant behind Wonwoo and leant his head on two stacked pillows as Wonwoo’s body was flat and crossed over to lean on Mingyu’s chest. At this point, Mingyu was partially sleeping, and Wonwoo was using him as a pillow, considering Mingyu stole two. For the fifth, which Mingyu drowsily put on, Wonwoo switched the computer from being in the middle of them to one side, so that Mingyu was lying against one side looking over Wonwoo who was in front and looking at the screen. It was easier for both of them, but it also meant he was closer to Mingyu, the taller not noticing much anyways.

Before the fifth finished, Wonwoo could hear the quiet snores from Mingyu, so he turned back to check. Yeah, definitely knocked out, although not surprising considering the sun was coming up again. Wonwoo shut the blinds, closed his laptop and placed it on his desk, regretting moving from the warm place on the bed. He quickly shuffles back to the bed, and tries lying in the same spot, his back against Mingyu. He finds the warm spot in front, and uses Mingyu’s arm as a pillow, seeing as it’s already laid out and he doesn’t want to wake the other only to take a pillow. His eyes close.

He awakens later on, unable to tell the time yet again, but only knowing he’s too warm to leave Mingyu’s embrace.

Embrace?

Wonwoo doesn’t move much, but makes himself aware of his surroundings. Mingyu’s rolled his arm over, so now Wonwoo is trapped underneath. Wonwoo, having a tendency to sleep with his legs apart, finds Mingyu’s legs tangled with his, their bare feet warming each others. Wonwoo’s back is fully pressed against Mingyu’s front, meaning that Wonwoo can hear every breath from Mingyu’s mouth right near his ear, and it’s alarmingly beautiful.

Wonwoo is usually the one to get out of bed as soon as he wakes up, but this time he doesn’t want to. He enjoys feeling protected, especially if it’s from Mingyu, so he snuggles his way to warmth and lightly closes his eyes, wanting to experience as much of the feeling before losing consciousness again. His breathing matches Mingyu’s as he barely opens his eyes again, wanting to try something…

He moves his hand from his side, placing it next to Mingyu’s. He sees Mingyu’s fist is loose, but his fingers curl towards his palm, and Wonwoo hesitates before holding his hand against Mingyu’s, Mingyu’s fingers brushing the back of Wonwoo’s hand. Like Wonwoo’s, Mingyu’s hand is cold at the touch. Wonwoo feels a bit braver but hesitates, taking his hand away. He feels Mingyu moving, his feet rubbing against Wonwoo’s, warm. Wonwoo waits until Mingyu stops moving, and places his hand near Mingyu’s again, only this time, he slips his fingers through Mingyu’s. It’s a nice sight, seeing Mingyu’s fingers around his own, and he looks at it, admiring. 

***

Wonwoo wakes again, moving around as his heart goes to slight panic, because Mingyu’s up. And their hands are still entwined.

“Oh, you’re up!”

Mingyu breaks from their current position, sitting up and looking down at a bed-head Wonwoo.

“Yeah, how long have you been awake?”

“I don’t know, I think I woke up before but went back to sleep.”

“Same.”

They get up, brushing their teeth at four in the afternoon, not even bothering to eat and just go back to Wonwoo’s room. They discuss movie times and agree on a 6:00 viewing of a new release. Both boys get ready, Mingyu borrowing some of Wonwoo’s bigger clothes as he forgot to bring some over, and exit the house, walking in step with each other to the cinemas. They buy their tickets, both having food concealed in their bags slung on their backs, and find seats to sit in.

Waiting for the movie is a bore.

“They have 20 minutes of ads, we could’ve just walked around some more.”

The lights dim and the movie starts. For Mingyu, it’s a great movie, but for Wonwoo, he could focus on anything but the movie. He could see Mingyu next to him, his arm leaning on their shared armrest. He keeps playing with his fingers, and Wonwoo urges himself not to take them in his own. Why is he thinking like this? He tries to pay attention to the movie, but the more he tries the less he actually does. The thought of grabbing Mingyu’s hand keeps pushing it’s way to the front of his mind, but he holds back. He knows it’s foolish, and he doesn’t even know why he wants to.

After the movie finishes, Wonwoo’s more than relieved, and files out of the cinema, parting ways with Mingyu, who plans to go back to his house. Wonwoo goes to his own and finds himself falling asleep on the cold side of the bed.

Although without Mingyu, every side is the cold side.

***

Not a day later, Mingyu invites everyone out to karaoke via group chat. Wonwoo reads the text, feeling warm knowing that he’ll be seeing Mingyu again so soon. They all meet outside at a nearby café, some of them holding hot drinks between their fingertips, and all go to the karaoke place across the street.

“Alright let’s get this started!” Mingyu’s excitement fills the room, acting like a puppy meeting new people, and jumps up to the panel. Everyone bumps into each other, the room a bit small for seven of them, but they manage with some people resorting to dancing on the chairs.

Seungkwan starts the first song, belting out a love ballad while dancing around the room, gaining cheers and claps from the others. Although he walks around to everyone, he seems to spend more time going to Vernon, which Wonwoo thinks he knows why. Although he’ll have to talk to him about that…

Others take after Seungkwan, gaining courage and stepping up to the panel to choose their own song. Wonwoo stays back, preferring to clap along and dance to the chosen songs, but Mingyu doesn’t want anyone to miss out, so he drags Wonwoo to the middle for a duet. They sing together, both of them end up just screaming the lyrics and joining the laughs from around them. Vernon pulls Seungkwan to the middle and starts singing properly, the complete opposite to Mingyu and Wonwoo. Wonwoo takes that as the cue to sit down, and happily returns to his corner spot, feeling Mingyu flop next to him.

“Having fun?”

“Yeah, thanks for inviting us.”

“No problem, I wanted to spend as much time as I could with you guys before I leave.”

Wonwoo warmly smiles at him as Mingyu’s dragged by Seokmin to sing another duet. He watches Mingyu having the time of his life before repeating the words in his head and realising.

“Before he leaves?”

Wonwoo now watches in concern, as he didn’t know this. All the plans of spending more time with Mingyu now down the drain. He doesn’t even know when he’s leaving, but he hopes it’s not soon. He doesn’t realise it, but now he’s slumped in the corner, vaguely frowning at nothing.

Seokmin subs out with Jihoon, who’s now being forced to dance and sing. Although it doesn’t seem forced for long, as he starts grinning widely while screaming out the lyrics. Seokmin walks over to Wonwoo, taking a break from his own screaming.

“You look down, what’s wrong?”

Wonwoo shakes his head, smiling immediately to hide anything. “Sorry for bothering you, I was just lost in thought.” About Mingyu.

Seokmin takes Mingyu’s place, and turns his head to Wonwoo, mockingly pouting at him. “I know there’s something else. You’re a closed book.”

“No, it’s just Mingyu.” Wonwoo gives a dejected sigh, giving an unwillingly but longing stare at him. ”He won’t be here for the break.”

Seokmin mumbles something and comforts Wonwoo. “Don’t worry, you’ll see him eventually, he won’t be leaving for too long.” Wonwoo stays silent at that, and Seokmin can see the glance he’s giving to Mingyu. It’s a sad, melancholic expression plastered on his face, and Seokmin knows the feeling. He’s had it before.

“Wonwoo.” He waits for the boy to look at him, grabbing his full attention. “Do you like Mingyu?”

There it is again. Like. Crush. Feelings. Wonwoo doesn’t know what to think but now Jihoon and Seokmin have asked him, and if he’s right, Seungkwan mentioned it too. How should he know the answer to that, is there some way of knowing.

Wonwoo just slouches further on the couch, getting lost in his train of thought and leaving the question open. Chan comes over to try perking Wonwoo up, who gladly takes the distraction while Jihoon sits down with Seokmin.

“I think you’re right Jihoon.”

***

On his last day before leaving, Mingyu spends time with Jihoon, knowing that he hasn’t spent much time since the start of year 11. They meet at the mall, knowing they both don’t plan ahead so they’ll have options to choose from. Jihoon waves him over, spotting him from afar.

“I know we just got here, but I have an idea.” They start walking, Mingyu following Jihoon. “Chan took me here a while back, it’s good fun.” He tells Mingyu about the arcade, and it isn’t long before they’re standing at the entrance.

Jihoon evilly rubs his hands together. “OK! DDR TIME!” Mingyu narrows his eyes, but follows the smaller anyways.

If there’s one thing Mingyu learnt, it’s that you should never try to beat Jihoon at DDR.

“Yes Ji, you’re the best. I would never dare take your title.”

Jihoon just grunts. “Chan already did, but I feel better beating you.” Mingyu rolls his eyes at that.

After a couple more rounds of games, Jihoon thinks he’s distracted Mingyu enough to get down to the real business. After hearing he’d be going away, he asked to hang out alone with him straight away. One, so he could spend genuine time with his best friend, and two, so he could ask about Wonwoo. So far Chan lost the bet, as they didn’t get together in year 11. Now, he’s not only concerned about senior year, but concerned about Wonwoo. Soon after the confrontation in the karaoke room between Seokmin and Wonwoo, Jihoon heard what happened and knew Wonwoo’s feelings for Mingyu, even if he didn’t yet realise them. He had to see if Mingyu thought anything of Wonwoo.

“Mingyu?”

“Hmm?”

“How are you and Wonwoo going?” 

Mingyu eyes him suspiciously at that. “We are well, why do you ask?”

“No I didn’t mean health wise I meant relationship wise.”

“Oh, well then yeah. We’re fine. He’s great to hang out with, he’s a good friend.”

Friend.

Jihoon feels bad for Wonwoo.

“How much of a friend do you think he is?”

“Jihoon what is this, a confrontation?” Mingyu starts to get red, standing to face Jihoon straight on. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but if you still have resentment towards him, drop it. He’s staying with us, and I’m not goin-“

“Mingyu I don’t resent him, I’m asking this for a different reason.”

“What other reason?”

“Don’t mind, but honestly what are your thoughts on him as a person.”

Mingyu takes this into thought, Jihoon obviously not letting go at “he’s a good friend”, what did he expect him to say?

“He’s someone I can trust deeply. I like him a lot.”

Jihoon sighs. “Like him as a friend?”

“Of course, what other like is there?”

“You know…”

Mingyu does know, but he didn’t think Jihoon was referring to that. If he was, then his questions would make more sense. He’s trying to see if he was gay for his best friend.

Mingyu laughs it off. “Hey, Ji, just because I spend a lot of time with Wonwoo does not make me gay for him, we’re just good friends.” Mingyu goes to play another game, distracting himself as Jihoon runs after him, not wanting to miss out. That’s all the conversation about Wonwoo extends to, and they enjoy the rest of their day. 

That is, until later, when Wonwoo is again brought up in conversation, and an accidental confession is made. An accidental confession of Wonwoo’s crush out of Jihoon’s mouth, which has Jihoon’s eyes wide open and hand slowly covering his mouth.

Mingyu takes his drink straw out of his mouth. “I’m sorry, Wonwoo what?”

“Nothing, I never said Wonwoo. I have to go home sorry, bye!” Jihoon speeds off, although slows to make his pace seem normal, all the while yelling ‘shit’ in his brain. He may have just screwed Wonwoo over.

Big time.

***

Mingyu’s flight arrives just on time, and he greets his parents at the terminal. He has a fun time enjoying the new sights and catching up with his family, who he hasn’t seen since Christmas. They spend the whole day talking and giving Mingyu the rundown of the place. Mingyu sees the home he’ll be staying at for the break. It’s big, and fairly stunning. He’s led to his bedroom, which is much bigger than his one at home, and sets his suitcase next to the bed. He’s left to unpack while his family go and do various things around the house.

He hasn’t forgotten the last few words he heard from Jihoon, but he hasn’t had the chance to talk to Wonwoo. After parting from Jihoon, he went home to pack and sleep, waking up early the next day to catch a cab to the airport. After the flight, he’s been busy all day and only just gotten the time to himself. He looks at his phone to check the time, but realises the time zone difference. Wonwoo would still be asleep.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to try.

Mingyu goes to his contacts and calls Wonwoo. He waits.

Ring

Ring

Ri-

“Hello?”

Wonwoo picks up, to Mingyu’s surprise. It’s break, he shouldn’t be up at 5 in the morning, it’s too early.

“Wonwoo? Why are you up so early?”

“If you wonder why I’m up so early why did you call now?”

He caught Mingyu off guard there. They continue to talk for a bit, Mingyu telling him all about the flight, the town, the house and his family.

“They’re all doing fine, also Minsoo misses you.”

“I miss him too, such a cute kid.” Mingyu smiles knowing Wonwoo’s fond of his brother. Wonwoo tells him he hasn’t missed much, and Mingyu hears a yawn on the other side of the phone. 

“Let me guess. You’re up because you never slept.” He hears a chuckle. “Ok, I don’t blame you, but I should let you sleep.”

Wonwoo panics at that. “No it’s fine! I’m really alright, never felt better!” He makes up excuses to Mingyu, just to keep him on the phone. He was happily scrolling through his phone when he got the call, causing his heart to beat fast as he fumbled to answer it. He doesn’t really call Mingyu, they usually text and meet up, so calling him is a new experience.

It makes Wonwoo realise how much he likes Mingyu’s voice.

Eventually Mingyu hangs up, forcibly telling the other to go to sleep. Wonwoo nods before saying yes, realising Mingyu can’t see him, and says a quick good night. Wonwoo curls up under his covers, thinking more and more about Mingyu, while Mingyu unpacks his bag, doing the same for the other.

***

The break pass faster than Wonwoo expected. He thought since Mingyu wasn’t here that they’d be a bit flat, but in fact they were all but. The others kept inviting him to place after place, sometimes parties (not really his thing) other times to go play in a park (Chan was persistent) or help Jihoon with his music. Wonwoo also had a call schedule, everyday around 9 am he would call Mingyu, as it would be only early evening at his place, and they would talk for a bit, depending on how much topic there was and how much time spare both of them had. Wonwoo sometimes felt a bit weird, just rolling on his bed smiling at his phone while listening to Mingyu’s voice, but it made him happy.

Wonwoo got a couple things done in the break. Jihoon was getting his hair dyed a bright blonde as a dare and brought Wonwoo along, asking him if he’d want to try it. Jihoon hadn’t yet told him he knew about his crush, or that he blabbed to Mingyu about it, and he didn’t want to. He felt too bad. He paid for Wonwoo’s hair dye, a light brown, and felt a bit better about the ordeal, although Wonwoo was constantly trying to pay him back, unaware of Jihoon’s reasoning for paying. He also got a job at a local convenience store, working a lot of hours during the break to make up for the hours he knows he’ll lose at school.

Mingyu was also busy in the break, his family bringing him around to meet others, having to wear a suit just to go outside. He did see a lot of cool things, but it wasn’t the ideal break for him. He wanted to spend it being comfortable with his friends, not uptight and business like with his parents, despite how much he loved them. His most joyous part of the day was when he called Wonwoo, the other’s voice lifting him up. He’d wait around all day just to call him, if Wonwoo didn’t call him first, and he’d try to keep him on the phone as long as possible. He still didn’t know what to think, whether Wonwoo had a crush on him or not, but all he knew was that talking to Wonwoo made him feel better.

The phone call was the only form of communication between them, and both cherished it.

***

Too soon the break ends, and senior year is finally here. With new changes to both the boys as they meet again on the junction, both having the same words as they see each other on their mind.

Oh Shit.

Mingyu, Jihoon’s words about Wonwoo still in his mind, has thought about the older in a lot of weird ways. Not that he wanted to, it’s just happened, but he can’t say that he didn’t want it either. Wonwoo’s walking towards him, just like any other day, only now Mingyu’s seeing him differently. Which may be due to the fact that his appearance slightly changed…

Wonwoo’s hair is dyed a lighter brown, his skin looking pale but healthy under it. He’s sporting round rimmed glasses and his shirt seems a bit tight around the shoulders, maybe there was a growth spurt during the time Mingyu left. His tie is also loose, but it looks good. At least on Wonwoo it does. Mingyu knows he’s thinking these things, and he knows why, but he can’t understand what they mean. He doesn’t like his best friend in that way, he’s just… appreciating the arts?

Wonwoo’s reaction isn’t any better. Although Mingyu didn’t have a growth spurt, his skin is suntanned, looking stunningly gorgeous against his messy, black hair. As Mingyu struts towards him, he can feel his heart pounding again, just like it was before. He can see his smile from here, and it’s a sight Wonwoo missed. Knowing he’s smiling at Wonwoo makes it a hundred times better, and Wonwoo can feel his stomach clench with butterflies thinking of Mingyu in front of him. He guesses time doesn’t help, and he knows something for sure now,

He likes Kim Mingyu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> So again i'm posting, I found out that writing on the bus is really efficient  
> i can't promise the chapters will always be uploaded but i tried my best  
> also someone pointed out there's not much jihancheol here even tho it's a tag  
> actually, jihancheol is majorly focused on in the third part of this story  
> first part is junior year (just finished), second is senior (verkwan side focus), third is first year graduation (jihancheol side focus)  
> so sorry if the tags seems misleading, but they are planned  
> and they're mentioned in the next chapter anyways  
> a lot of them are so stay tuned  
> and thank you for reading :)


	13. You're A Tease

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> School's back, the boys are in senior year, and someone drops in for their first appearance of many...

The two boys play in the sand pit together, now that their moms are here the bullies have gone. They can see their mothers talking, Mingyu’s mom in particular speaking to the teacher. They’re all smiling, and the boys think everything is alright. That’s when their mothers come over to speak to the boys, Mingyu’s mother kneeling in front of Wonwoo.

“Hey Wonwoo…” Mingyu’s mother looks up at Wonwoo’s, not knowing what to say, so Wonwoo’s mother comes to the rescue.

“Woo, it was very brave what you did to help Mingyu out, but now he has to go to another school to help others out, just like you!”

Wonwoo feels proud knowing Mingyu will be helping others. He didn’t know that meant Mingyu not coming back to the kindergarten ever again…

***

Oh Shit.

“Hey Wonwoo.”

He likes Mingyu.

“Hi Mingyu.”

They walk along the junction together, both a bit quietly stunned at the other. The conversation between isn’t awkward, but it’s on the brink of it. Their usual chatty mornings have turned into silent glances and sighs. It’s only when they get to school do they start to fall back into routine, Mingyu following Wonwoo to his locker, and eventually the both splitting off to their respective homerooms to get their timetables.

None of them have yet seen the others, so they both plan to meet them at lunch, however Wonwoo finds that he has a class with Jihoon straight up, as he walks in to his English class and sees Jihoon with his newly dyed hair on the desk.

“Already sick of school?”

“Yeah.” Jihoon lifts his head with a smile, asking Wonwoo how his holidays were. They delve into a small conversation before the teacher comes in, interrupting them and calling the roll.

After this class, Jihoon and Wonwoo briefly talk, before splitting again. Wonwoo doesn’t see anyone in his next English class, except a new kid. He feels sorry for the kid, as he knows this teacher will introduce them to the whole class. He remembers…

“Class, I’d like to welcome our newest student.” Oh god, here he goes.

“Please welcome Xu Minghao.”

***

After class, Wonwoo walks out talking with a girl about a project they’ve been paired up for, Senior year assessments starting almost immediately. He splits off from her and turns towards his usual lunch table hoping to see the others. Unfortunately, he’s the first one there, and has to wait for everyone. Although, it’s not too long before a familiar, smiling face bounces into view.

“Wonwoo! Long time no see buddy!” Seokmin comes up and immediately pats Wonwoo on the back, greeting him.

“You too Seok.”

This day is finally showing Wonwoo the excitement of a new year. He used to always dread going back to school after the holidays, especially since it just meant the bullies started up their usual antics again. He didn’t understand why students liked coming back at all, school was only a place where he got bullied, homework or both at the same time. Now he has reasons to like coming back, he understands too.

“Hello Seniors!”

An all too familiar Seungkwan sways into view followed by Vernon and Chan. The three of them are greeted by Seokmin and Wonwoo, who are all eventually joined by Jihoon and finally Mingyu. Wonwoo’s distracting himself by talking to the others, while Jihoon’s nervously eyeing Mingyu’s interaction with Wonwoo. Mingyu’s acting normal, but the obsessive amount of times that Mingyu looks Wonwoo’s way tells Jihoon he hasn’t forgotten what he said. Shit.

For now, he’ll just have to hope Mingyu forgets. Either that, or things actually go well. Time for a distraction.

“Oh yeah guys I forgot to tell you, I got a text from Seungcheol.”

“What did he say?”

“Well,” Jihoon takes an annoyed breath. “My posed question was ‘How is college?’, apparently he thought I said, ‘Can you tell me as much about your room mate as possible?’ Literally, he just kept talking about this Jeonghan kid.”

“Ooooooh, does he like him?” Seokmin eyes the text that Jihoon’s shown him.

“Probably considering the amount of doting written in this text alone. God, now I’m afraid to go there.”

Mingyu scoffs while eating. “Why, afraid you’ll find someone too?” Jihoon fake laughs and pushes his head down.

Laughs around the table are heard from that. Mingyu’s only been at the lunch table for 10 minutes, but he finds himself drifting in and out of focus, thinking about the man sitting across the table from him. Wonwoo looks like he’s intently listening to Seokmin now talking about finding a successor for his club, but all Mingyu can focus on is what he heard out of Jihoon’s mouth that last day they hung out…

***

“So, what are you going to do without me being here?” Mingyu slurps up his drink out of the straw, awaiting Jihoon’s response.

“Ah you know, sit around, find a hobby, maybe just play games. Actually, I’m going to compose some more songs, get my work out if I can.” He smiles quite proudly at that.

“That’s good.”

“And what about you? What are you doing abroad?”

“Not entirely sure. My family will be escorting me everywhere, so I’m not even sure where I’ll be. But I’ll be sure to call back from time to time.”

“Call Wonwoo too.”

“Of course, I can’t forget calling him.”

“Tell him before though, it’ll prepare him.”

Mingyu laughs unaware. “What do you mean prepare?”

“Nothing. Are you getting me a gift?”

Mingyu laughs at that. “I have to now. I want to get most people a gift, although I’m not sure what Wonwoo likes.”

“Wonwoo likes you-“ At that, Mingyu watches Jihoon’s eyes slowly widen and his mouth slowly being covered by his hand. It doesn’t take a genius to work out what he was about to say, and Mingyu’s a bit confused.

“I’m sorry, Wonwoo what?”

“Nothing, I never said Wonwoo. I have to go home sorry, bye!” And with that, Jihoon rushes off, leaving Mingyu with a questionable new piece of information about his best friend.

***

Now looking at him, Mingyu’s not entirely sure what Jihoon said was true. Wonwoo still looks like the same guy he knew last year, and he isn’t necessarily acting weird. Maybe Mingyu’s just overanalysing, maybe Jihoon meant in a friend way. Mingyu’s being silly, of course he meant in a friend way, Wonwoo likes him as a friend. That wouldn’t explain the way he acted afterwards though, but for now he’ll just push the thought out of his head.

He doesn’t need much of a distraction though, because Seokmin’s stopped talking and moved next to Jihoon and Wonwoo. The way they’re talking has Mingyu intrigued, so he goes over to see what’s up.

“What am I missing?

Seokmin wiggles his eyes. “Seungkwan and Vernon got a bit close over the holidays.”

Jihoon leans over to Seokmin. “Is it just me or is everyone around us turning gay?”

“Everyone’s a bit gay,” states Seokmin, as Wonwoo and Mingyu wonder what hushed words were just exchanged.

As Mingyu looks over to the trio of Juniors, he can indefinitely see Seungkwan and Vernon sitting close, but it’s not that weird. I mean, him and Wonwoo would usually sit that close, what’s wrong with that? The table just doesn’t have that much room.

Only he realises that since half the group is surrounding Jihoon and Wonwoo on the bench, there’s a considerable amount of empty space for them to move into, yet they don’t. Still, maybe they’re comfortable…

Jihoon slaps something on his knee. “I bet $10”

“What, really? You’re betting on them getting together?” Mingyu’s wondering what happened to his stone set friend.

“We’ve done it before.”

“You three?”

“Hey,” Wonwoo’s hands surrender, “I had no part in any betting before this.”

“Who’d you bet on?” Mingyu questions. At that, Seokmin and Jihoon just look at each other and ignore Mingyu, who ends up rolling his eyes at them.

Seokmin engages Jihoon in a conversation one on one. “Any time frames?”

“No, I lose on time frames. Unless my previous bet waits a year, but I doubt their hormones will let them.”

Seokmin looks at Mingyu, who just gives an eyebrow, then to Wonwoo, who remains expressionless. “I don’t know, I think you’re pretty good for that one.”

Mingyu gets a bit fed up with the secrets, so he goes to the other side of the table to sit down. Wonwoo follows behind him.

“Placing bets on each other’s love lives, god.”

“It’s harmless.” Wonwoo jokes around. “I mean, we could bet on Jihoon and Seokmin getting together, the problem is both are assumed straight, and it is very unlikely they will get together.” Mingyu cracks a smile at the thought.

Jihoon and Seokmin have stopped being secretive and decided to join the group again. The three juniors wrap up their conversation and start talking to everyone again. Everyone’s glad to be back together, the only good thing about coming to school. Jihoon scoots over next to Mingyu as the two observe the conversations taking place around them.

“Seungcheol’s just having a heap of fun right now.”

“What’s he doing?” Mingyu asks, listening while shoving food in his mouth.

Jihoon huffs. “He keeps texting me about everyone he meets. First it was his room mate Jeonghan, not even surprised I remember his name by now. Then he’s texting about this second kid called Joshua, saying I’d like him. Apparently, he’s really into music too.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“It makes me want to graduate even more right now.”

“Oh true.” The two munch in silence, listening to the others around them talk. They only have one year left, and despite Jihoon’s words, they both know they aren’t ready. Sure, school may be a pain, but at least they know what they’re doing. They have no idea for the future…

***

The first lunch as Seniors has ended, and Mingyu’s opted to go back to normal and follow Wonwoo to his class. They go to their newly assigned lockers, now in the designated Senior’s block, meaning they got the perks of feeling special. Mingyu’s following closely behind Wonwoo as he opens up his locker, and both are surprised when they see a similar object.

“Oh no.”

In Wonwoo’s locker, placed neatly on the top shelf, is yet another note and chocolate.

“I thought this would stop.”

“Woo, feelings don’t go away over the holidays, I don’t think this will stop until they either confess to you or stop liking you. Can I have the chocolate?”

Wonwoo chucks the chocolate at an amused Mingyu. “No I don’t want them to confess. Bad bad bad…” Mingyu laughs at his awkwardly introverted friend, popping the chocolate in his mouth.

“It’s not bad.”

“It is! It’ll be horrible telling them ‘Sorry, I like someone else-“

“Woah, you don’t need to say that! Just say ‘Sorry, I don’t like you in that way.’” Wonwoo just looks at him as if saying “and that’s any better?” Mingyu ignores it, asking the real question on his mind, “Anyways, you like someone?”

“What? No.” Wonwoo’s expressionless face doesn’t help, but Mingyu knows he’s lying when the two make eye contact, and Wonwoo quickly looks away.

“You do!”

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

“Do not!”

“Fine, don’t tell me. I already know anyways.” Wonwoo finishes grabbing his books, alarmed at his words as Mingyu winks and walks away. Whether Mingyu does in fact know who it is or not, he won’t change his friendship with Wonwoo. He’s made his mind up.

Meanwhile, Seungkwan watched this encounter, quite intrigued. Now, with Mingyu out of the way, Seungkwan strides in quickly taking advantage of a shocked Wonwoo.

“So, you like Mingyu.”

What is this, attack Wonwoo day?

“What? No!” Seungkwan smiles, as if he already knows.

“Funny, but I didn’t mean in that way. But since you took it in that way… I guess you really do like him.”

“I didn’t know you took psychology.”

“I don’t, simple known facts.” Seungkwan’s grin making Wonwoo writhe uncomfortably underneath it. He doesn’t like the feeling of people having advantage over him, he’s had it his whole life. Seungkwan, seeing Wonwoo’s grimace, worries for the fellow. “Don’t worry Wonwoo, I’m not going to tell him. I think it’s quite cute.”

“Cute?”

“Yes! Best friends and then one falls in love with the other but can’t tell them due to the fact they’re afraid of breaking their friendship-“

“How did you know? That sounds exactly like my situation.”

Seungkwan sighs at Wonwoo’s naivety. “It’s called a cliché sweetie. Every blossoming romance has one.”

“He doesn’t like me back.” Wonwoo can’t help but huff after that, which makes Seungkwan feel extremely sorry for that. He can’t relate more with him…

“So, you do like him?”

Wonwoo perks up. “No! I don’t like him.” He walks away before the cheeks he can feel flaming up give him away. Seungkwan watches after him, imagining himself in the same shell. Why oh why does life have to be so cliché.

***

Wonwoo’s heading to his class, without realising he’s walking in the wrong direction. He makes a U-turn and walks for his proper classroom, quickly scanning the room as he walks in. By now, he knows most people in his year, and he feels quite accomplished. He finds a seat at the back with a couple people he sat with last year, setting his book down and greeting them as usual. Their new teacher walks in, introducing himself before calling the roll.

“Jeon Wonwoo?”

“Present.”

“Kim Mingyu”

“Here.”

Mingyu! Wonwoo didn’t see him on the way in. His eyes follow the voice and he sees him across the classroom, their desks facing each other as Mingyu’s looking back at him expectantly. Mingyu gives an excited puppy smile and waves at him, Wonwoo mouths back at him ‘I didn’t know you were in this class’, complete with hand gestures. Mingyu just mouths ‘same’ back, before turning to the board after the teacher finishes the roll.

“Alright class, as I said, I’m a new teacher here, so I’m sorry if it takes me some time to get your names right. For now, could I ask you sit in the same seats, as I’ve just written your names down.” There’s collective moans and groans from the class, including an internal one from Wonwoo. This means no sitting next to Mingyu, but at least he’s facing him.

The class starts and Wonwoo tries focusing, but he constantly finds his eyes wondering back to look at Mingyu. That’s when his eyes start to narrow on the boy currently sitting next to Mingyu, talking to him. It was that new student, what was his name…

It doesn’t matter, because Wonwoo’s totally not jealous. He’s just silently wishing he was in the new student’s place. It’s fine, chances are he’ll have another class with Mingyu anyways he can sit with him there. And he sits with him at lunch. Not sitting with him in one class should be fine.

He spends the next hour just watching the two talk. He can hear others around him talking to him, and he does try to talk back to them, but he just finds his mood going down. If this is what having a crush is like, he doesn’t want it. Maybe he should find a way to stop liking Mingyu. Every time the new guy makes Mingyu laugh, Wonwoo’s pencil gets a bit demented and the sharpener is needed. Wonwoo just wishes the class to be over with.

Finally, class is finished, and he heads off to his fourth class of the day, praying that Mingyu is in one of his remaining 5 classes.

***

Mingyu walks away from Wonwoo’s locker after teasing him about having a crush and heads to his next class. From the teacher’s name, he doesn’t recognise it, so he assumes the teacher is new at the school. About to sit at the back with a familiar group of friends, he spots a new face sitting across the room. He doesn’t make eye contact before immediately going to sit next to the new student.

“Hi, I’m Mingyu, what’s your name?”

“Xu Minghao.”

“That’s an interesting name, are you from around here?”

“No, I’m an abroad student.”

“Oh cool!” Mingyu sees the other nod, faintly smiling at him. He’s not sure the other’s found friends, so he wants to make sure to help him. “Have you met many people here yet?” Minghao just shakes his head. “Well, nice to meet you then! If you need anything you can come talk to me!”

“Ok, thank you.” Minghao smiles at him again, although Mingyu’s not sure whether he’s annoyed or actually thankful, so he decides to sink back in his seat and check his phone before class. The teacher files in, finally, and introduces himself as new before calling the role.

“Jeon Wonwoo.”

“Present.”

Mingyu barely hears his name being called next while looking for Wonwoo. He didn’t even see his best friend across the room. They make eye contact and have a short, silent conversation before Mingyu turns to the board trying to concentrate. It isn’t long before Mingyu feels a slight nudge on his arm.

Minghao’s looking at him. “What does that word mean? Credibility?”

“It kind of means the integrity of the object, do you know what integrity is?” Mingyu unconsciously waves his hands around to try and explain the concept of credibility. Eventually Minghao gets it and asks Mingyu to write it down. Minghao ends up going to google translate, Mingyu thinking that’s probably not the best idea, but if it works it works. Minghao thanks Mingyu and listens to the teacher talking again, but it isn’t long before they’re put to work, and Mingyu’s talking to Minghao again.

“So, where did you transfer from?”

“Oh, a school back in my hometown, China.”

“You’re straight from China? But your speech is so good!”

Minghao smiles and takes the compliment well. “Thank you. I had friends back in China, and my mother got me to take language classes as a precaution.”

“Precaution?”

Minghao just shakes his head. “Long story.”

“Well, I hope you like here just as much as home.”

“Thank you, friend.” Mingyu smugly beams at that last word. This was his favourite part of making friends, the feeling that they accept you back. It’s the main reason why Mingyu knows everyone in the grade, not forgetting the fact that he’s a considerable crush to many and classified as a puppy to those who meet him. And who doesn’t love puppies.

Minghao starts to ask more questions about Mingyu, about the school, about life here and about his friends. Mingyu answers, and in turn asks questions about Minghao’s hometown, which he learned was named Anshan, and finds Minghao opening up very quickly. Mingyu remembers that the boy didn’t yet have friends, so he takes this as an opportunity to invite him to sit with his group.

“Hey Minghao, if you want to sit with me at lunch, you can.”

“Sit with you?”

“Yeah, you said you hadn’t met anyone yet, so if you want, you can come sit with my group.”

“Oh, thank you very much, but I don’t usually sit for lunch.” Mingyu’s face shows question. “I’m not used to sitting with a group, I usually dance at lunch times.

“Dance? What kind of dance?”

“B-boy. I had a group, back in China. Do you know if there’s a group here?” Despite Mingyu knowing the whole grade, he had no idea whether there was a dance crew in the school. He’d have to find out.

“I don’t know, but I can ask around if you want.”

“No that’s alright. I walked around and found a couple year 11’s dancing, I’ll ask them.”

“Oh sure. Sorry about that.”

“That’s ok.” Minghao starts to pack up his bags as the bell goes off. Mingyu says goodbye to him and hurries to pack his own stuff up before heading to Wonwoo’s desk. Only, his desk is empty. Maybe his classroom was on the other side of the school and he had to rush, otherwise he’d usually walk with Mingyu. Strange.

***

Wonwoo’s walking out of his fourth period class past the year 11 lockers as he makes his way to the senior area. It’s as if his timing is perfect, because he happens to hear two familiar voices, and halts his walking to listen in on their conversation.

“Hey Seungkwan, want to go see this movie after school?”

“Of course! What time?”

Wonwoo spots them not far away, Vernon supposedly hanging around Seungkwan’s locker, as Seungkwan’s head is hidden in the locker. Wonwoo smiles, he can tell Seungkwan likes Vernon, and he’s happy for him.

“Any time, but not too late. How about the 3:50 viewing?”

Seungkwan turns around, trying to hide a massive smile with a slightly on the positive side agreement. “Sure! Sounds great!” Vernon nervously smiles as he walks away, silently congratulating himself, both boys telling themselves not to get too caught up in their feelings, as it’s only a movie.

Wonwoo walks past Seungkwan’s locker, hoping to poke some fun at the boy.

“Knock knock.”

“Who’s there?” Seungkwan turns around and sees Wonwoo.

“Someone with a date this afternoon!” He laughs at the flustered Seungkwan as he leaves him behind, finally going to his own locker. He doesn’t finish packing his bag before getting a text from Seungkwan.

 **Seungkwan:** Just rmb  
**Seungkwan:** I know about Mingyu :)

 **You:** I’m well aware.  
**You:** I wanted to wish you good luck.

 **Seungkwan:** Oh  
 **Seungkwan:** Well then ty

 **You:** Tell me how it is.

 **Seungkwan:** I will  
**Seungkwan:** You’ll find me screaming to you tonight

 **You:** Sure.  
**You:** Use protection.

Wonwoo’s pretty sure he can imagine the horrified expression on Seungkwan’s face, especially since Wonwoo isn’t the type to use that kind of joke. Maybe Mingyu’s been influencing his sense of humour a bit too much. That's right, Mingyu. Was he supposed to wait for him after school.

Even if he wasn't, he can't help. He sends a text to Mingyu, and anxiously waits for a reply. So much for not liking Mingyu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi i'm back  
> like I said before, I had a bit of trouble with school work and such  
> due to this I'm going to update every two weeks  
> If I find that I'm holding up with my workload and stuff, I will go back to every week  
> but for now this is probably the best option for me  
> sorry for the hiatus  
> and thank you for reading :)


	14. Emotions Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emotional confessions, hard decisions and secrets revealed...

“How was your date?”

Wonwoo’s rolling around on his bed, on a call with an equally entertained Seungkwan. Earlier on that day, Seungkwan and Vernon had gone on a spontaneous movie “hang out”, although Wonwoo knew much better than that.

He hears a sigh on the other end. “It was fine, but nothing really happened. We just watched the movie.” Wonwoo chuckles.

“Well what did you expect?”

“I don’t know, something more. Maybe I’m just thinking too much.”

“So you’ll admit you thought of it as a date?”

That caught Seungkwan off guard. “No! We aren’t even dating.” Wonwoo silently eye rolls at that. They can all see something has happened between the two since last year.

“Well then what are you?”

“Frien-“

“Bullshit.”

Seungkwan gasps. “Jeon Wonwoo! What has Mingyu done to you?” 

“Stop avoiding the question.”

“What question?”

“Do you like Vernon?”

There’s a pause, for quite some time. Wonwoo’s wondering if Seungkwan’s genuinely thinking, or whether he’s merely too shy to admit the truth. The silence starts to lengthen and Wonwoo wonders whether to cut it and change the topic until Seungkwan stops him.

“I don’t like him.”

 

Wonwoo finds that very hard to believe, especially after the pause he just witnessed, but he’s willing to let it go. The silence from the usually chatty personality on the other side already tells him his answer.

“Ok Seungkwan. I won’t ask further.” He can hear relief in Seungkwan’s voice when they next speak. They continue to talk for a bit until Seungkwan mentions homework, and they both agree to talk further the next morning at school. 

Wonwoo and Mingyu walk to school as usual, Wonwoo trying but struggling to contain his feelings. This was harder than he originally thought, but there’s no denying it now. The morning’s a blur with MIngyu, and before they know it, they’re at Wonwoo’s locker looking at yet another gift. Wonwooo blushes as Mingyu laughs and asks for the chocolate. After Mingyu’s eaten the chocolate and gone off to his class, Seungkwan slides up next to Wonwoo. 

“Ok let’s get this clear. I like Vernon, you like Mingyu. We help each other, Capiche?” Startled, Wonwoo takes a step back from his locker and comprehends what Seungkwan just said.

“So you do like him?”

“Yes, but I knew you didn’t believe me last night, so I may as well.”

“That and the fact that you like talking about him too much to hold it in.” Wonwoo stares down Seungkwan, even though Seungkwan knows he’s lost.

“Fine. The point is, now we have someone to talk to about it, which is good, and we can try helping each other, if you get what I mean.”

Wonwoo hesitates. “I don’t need help with mine. He doesn’t like me back, but I’m alright with that.” The stare protruding from Seungkwan’s eyes burns into Wonwoo, as if he’s said something horribly wrong.

“You know he doesn’t like you… and you’re ok with that?” 

Wonwoo just shrugs at the thought. “I’ll still help you though, don’t worry.”

“Oh yay. Ok, you’re his close friend, so you might be able to talk to him about things I can’t talk to him about… what’s that?” Seungkwan points to the gift minus the chocolate that’s sitting on top of Wonwoo’s locker.

“Oh, it’s just something. I’ve been getting these for ages.”

“A secret admirer?”

Wonwoo shrugs. “I don’t know who it is, but Mingyu said that too.” Wonwoo has to flinch away from Seungkwan, who’s just started to hit the guy on the shoulder. “Seungkwan what the-“

“It’s Mingyu.”

“What?”

“The gifts? It has to be, right? Do you even know anyone else?”

Wonwoo decides not to take offense. “In fact, I know a lot of people-“

“No, I meant, who else would be able to get into your locker and leave you gifts? You do lock your locker right?”

“Yes of course.”

“So it has to be someone who knows your locker code.” Wonwoo had already thought of that, and he honestly had no idea how they got it. However, Mingyu was the only one who always saw him input it…

“Even so, I don’t think it’s Mingyu. First of all, why would he do it? Second, he sounded just as surprised as me when I first got them, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t faking that.” A thoughtful Seungkwan stands back and assesses what Wonwoo just said, eventually agreeing.

“Ok… that all sounds like it isn’t him, but you still don’t know. And I still stand by my argument that it has to be someone close to you.”

“Well that’s great.” Seungkwan rolls his eyes at his friends sarcasm, not understanding Wonwoo’s fear behind it. If it is indeed Wonwoo’s close friends, aka someone in his group, and he knows it isn’t Mingyu, then he may end up breaking someone’s heart, and ultimately a friendship. He doesn’t want that to happen at all. 

Thinking over his friends, he’s not sure who would do it at all. Jihoon, definitely not, Seokmin, he would most likely be over the top with a confession, not small gifts like this, Mingyu was already crossed off, Seungkwan likes Vernon, Wonwoo’s pretty sure Vernon likes Seungkwan, if not then no one, and Chan is a literal fluff who probably hasn’t dated anyone yet, he doubted this would be his way of affection.

If that’s the case, then who could possibly be sending him these gifts? As of right now, he’s confused, but waves a goodbye to his friend and walks to his next class, mind drifting off in wonder and slight curiosity.

***

It’s lunch, and the harmful banter is going on again. Seokmin’s telling random jokes about eggs, Chan, Vernon and Seungkwan are listening intently. Well, Chan is, he’s not sure whether Vernon and Seungkwan are or whether they’re paying more attention to each other in their peripheral. Either way, Seokmin’s delighted he has more people to repeat his jokes to.

“Jihoon, any update on Seungcheol?”

Jihoon perks up for a bit at Mingyu’s question, and nods. “Yeah, not just texts but pictures too. He looks really happy.”

“Did he send pictures of his roommate?”

Jihoon smirks. “He sent a pic of both the guys he mentioned. Not going to lie, they’re both very handsome, Seungcheol fits in with their crowd. Not surprised though, do you remember how many confessions he’d get? Not to mention Valentine’s day gifts…”

“Don’t remind me. I think he may have gotten a bit full of himself from them…” They both laugh at that, remembering the times from previous years. One more year and then they’d hopefully join him at Bridgemont, but until then, they had to stay and suffer. Lost in thoughts of the future, Mingyu looks over to Wonwoo, who seems to be fiddling with his hands. Mingyu’s a bit worried about him, he seems to be quiet, quieter than Mingyu’s used to.

Mingyu slides next to Wonwoo and nudges him. “You going ok?”

Wonwoo, who seems like he just woke up from a daydream, sleepily nods. “Just tired I guess.”

The two sit in silence for a bit, the cafeteria noise filling the gap. Mingyu’s not sure whether to still think about what Jihoon said, or to brush it off. Surely his best friend didn’t have feelings for him, not in that way anyways.

Wonwoo’s not in the best state of mind either. Mingyu sitting right next to him is making him squirm. It’s a simple gesture, Mingyu asking if he’s ok, but it makes Wonwoo feel warm, and he doesn’t like it. He’s realised that trying to get over someone is easier said than done, especially since he keeps thinking of Minghao, the obstruction. Why did he have to show up, now every lesson with Mignyu he has to watch those two become good friends while he sits on the sidelines and glares.

With everyone in the group talking, Wonwoo looks around and realises Jihoon’s wondered off. Wonwoo’s noticed that he’s been very distracted lately, maybe something happened on his break? Wonwoo runs off after Jihoon, making note to ask him if he’s ok, when he spots Mingyu across the corridor, walking with Minghao. Wonwoo’s well accustomed to his feelings now to know what just spiked him, a sharp pang of jealousy. Wonwoo doesn’t mean to, but he can feel his eyes glaring at the smaller guy, the one Mingyu’s arm is currently draped over.

“Why are they hanging out like they’re best buddies. They’ve only known each other for a few days.”

***

Jihoon hangs his head in frustration at the dilemma he was given during the break.

“Are you saying I have to leave school?”

“I’m afraid so. The business is a tough gig…”

He was offered the dream of a lifetime, to work under one of the top entertainment companies as a producer. Only catch, he has to start right away, meaning he has to stop his education and fully focus on his new found work. Jihoon can feel his excitement drop. He’s not ready to leave school yet, he doesn’t know what else to do other than go to school and study with a set weekly routine. To be honest, growing up kind of scares him, especially if he has to do it before ever graduating.

But this is the offer of a lifetime, it doesn’t happen to just anyone. If he had known uploading tracks to SoundCloud would have done this, he may have chosen to upload them later, at least when he was in college. He can’t exactly tell them to wait a year. The man was right, business is a tough gig, and it won’t wait around for him. He feels the weight of the decision rest on him, not knowing what to do at all and being pressured to answer in a short time.

These days at school, he tries to spend his time with his friends. As much as he can before he’s forced to make a decision like that. He prefers to distract himself rather than make a decision which may change his life. However, despite wanting to hang out with his friends, he finds himself wondering off to stress more about the decision.

Before he gets too deep in thought, Wonwoo luckily comes over and distracts him, walking with him to class. Maybe he should tell someone. Jihoon looks up at Wonwoo, the taller widely smiling and acting like he didn’t just see Mingyu walking with Minghao across the hall. Yeah, Jihoon saw it too. What’s up with those two? He’ll have to interrogate Mingyu, and comfort an obviously jealous Wonwoo. It’s the least he can do for his friend. 

“You alright Jihoon? You seem to be a bit stressed lately.” Wonwoo looks at Jihoon with an expression of interest and concern, making Jihoon want to tell him everything, pour it out. He’s just not sure how Wonwoo will take it, and whether Jihoon will like what Wonwoo says.

“Yeah I’m alright. It’s just senior year and everything.”

Wonwoo nods, as if he knows what Jihoon really means, but decides not to pry. Jihoon silently thanks him for that, and they both walk to their class together, Jihoon, moved by Wonwoo’s consideration, was now determined to help Wonwoo with his jealousy and feelings for Mingyu.

***

Classes finish for the day, and Wonwoo walks out of his last class. To his surprise, he sees Mingyu and Minghao walk out of class, the same class, as Minghao waves a goodbye to Mingyu and walks away. Wonwoo firmly turns around, just wanting to go home and sleep. He prefers his bed to this mess anyways. No, he’s fine, he simply just needs to calm down, grab his bag, and walk-

“Wonwoo!”

Oh no, it’s him. Wonwoo halts, but immediately finds himself walking. He feels bad for ignoring his friend, but he can always just play it off that he didn’t hear him. He starts to walk to the lockers faster, but feels a hand on his shoulder. He grimaces, sucks up his feelings and tells himself to get over the jealousy.

“Hey buddy.”

Nevermind that. Buddy? Mingyu’ looking down at him with a smile that softens Wonwoo’s current festering frustration, so he only smiles and slightly waves back, turning for the lockers again and walking. Fast.

 

“Have you met Minghao? He’s the new student. He’s the one I sit next to in Psychology-“

“Yeah I know him.”

“Oh good! He’s so cool Won, you have to meet him. He’s from China and he dances and he has this crazy aunt…” Wonwoo tunes out as Mingyu continues to go on about the Chinese kid. Mingyu’s definitely not helping his already sour mood, especially by saying how cool the new kid is. Wonwoo’s glad he’s finally reached the lockers and hurriedly unlocks his, he just wants to get out of here. Preferably away where he can calm himself.

It’s then that he realises Mingyu’s looking at him expectantly. Wonwoo doesn’t know what to say, and Mingyu just raises an eyebrow.

“Were you even listening?”

Wonwoo sighs at that. “Sorry Mingyu, I just have a few things on my mind.”

“Oh, ok that’s understandable. How was your day.”

“Shit.”

Mingyu’s eyes open wide with concern. “Why? What’s wrong?”

Wonwoo contemplates telling him, but recedes quickly. His emotions are completely irrational for a normal friend, even on the slight verge of possessive. He doesn’t want to sound that way to Mingyu, so he goes for the fall back. “Nothing, just didn’t sleep well.” He even added a yawn.

Apparently Wonwoo needs to take acting classes, because Mingyu didn’t fall for that.

“Won, what’s wrong? Everything alright at home?” He nods. “Is it school then?” Another nod. Mingyu puts his hands on the smaller’s shoulders and looks straight at him. “You know you can talk to me about anything, I can try help.”

“I can’t talk about it, and you’re not helping.” He brushes Mingyu’s hands off his shoulders and reaches in for his bag. The contact between the two probably meant nothing to Mingyu, but Wonwoo could feel the warmth radiating from Mingyu’s fingers into his shoulders, and he could feel how dangerous it was.

He’s about to comment further, but he decides to leave it at that, worried that he may say something he regrets. Best to keep your mouth shut and your head low. He makes his exit, carefully avoiding going near Mingyu’s locker for fear of the other following him, and exits out the opposite side. He walks around for a bit, unaware what to do but making sure Mingyu’s already left. He can see most people walking out the gates, hear them too, so he goes back past the locker room, only to halt.

He can hear someone. Someone crying.

Worried, he searches around for the source. It sounds familiar, and he’s very concerned. He can already tell, without ever hearing them cry, who it may be. He enters the toilet block and knocks on the door, but it opens up to confirm his thoughts. He silently files in, closes the door and just hugs him tight.

 

***

Mingyu’s walking out of class, unaware of Wonwoo’s state, as he’s distracted by Minghao. He’s been getting very close to the Chinese, and has started to grow fond of him. Growing up and moving to a completely different country with only his mother, Mingyu has respect for the guy. He gave him his number yesterday, so Mingyu’s also been helping him with studying and learning the language. Mingyu laughs everytime Minghao asks what a word means, getting a grimace from Minghao, but he still helps, and Minghao’s still glad he’s there.

Mingyu sees Wonwoo across the corridor and shouts out, but Wonwoo doesn’t turn around. He decides to exercise instead of strain his voice, and walks a bit faster to reach him. The perks of long legs.

“Hey buddy.”

Did Mingyu see him cringe at that, or was that just his eyes playing tricks. Wonwoo looks up, a small smile on his face as he waves back.

Not knowing what to do, he brings up Minghao in attempts to lighten the mood. “Have you met Minghao? He’s the new student. He’s the one I sit next to in Psychology-“

“Yeah I know him.” Mingyu did not garner the reaction he wanted from the smaller, but maybe if he told him about the new student he’d start to understand. He tells him everything they’ve talked about, explaining why it would be so cool to have him sit with them. He starts telling Wonwoo that he should get to know the student and asks how that sounds. It’s only then does Mingyu realise they’re already at the lockers, and Wonwoo’s unlocking his locker. Wonwoo doesn’t answer at first, so Mingyu waits until he turns around to raise an eyebrow, signalling whether he heard the question or not. From Wonwoo’s reaction, obviously not.

“Were you even listening?”

He hears Wonwoo dejectedly sigh. “Sorry Mingyu, I just have a few things on my mind.”

“Oh, ok that’s understandable. How was your day.”

“Shit.” That’s a bit worrying. Not only was it bad, but it was bad enough for Wonwoo to outright swear. He doesn’t usually do that unless it’s for comic relief…

“Why? What’s wrong?”

He watches Wonwoo seem to have an internal fight with himself, and can already tell what comes out of his mouth won’t be the truth. “Nothing, just didn’t sleep well.” A fake yawn. Mingyu’s not buying it.

“Won, what’s wrong? Everything alright at home?” Wonwoo nods. “Is it school then?” Another nod. Mingyu doesn’t know hat else to do, so he simply comforts his friend and puts his hand on his shoulders, doing the most normal yet comforting gesture he can think of. “You know you can talk to me about anything, I can try help.” Mingyu gives a grin at that.

 

 

Wonwoo’s next answer catches Mingyu off guard. “I can’t talk about it, and you’re not helping.” Mingyu’s hands are pushed off Wonwoo’s shoulders, as if Wonwoo didn’t accept his affection or support. Mingyu’s a bit hurt at the action, and really worried now that he’s unsure how to help. What does he mean he can’t talk about it? He’s about to question when Wonwoo turns towards his locker and grabs his bag out. As he turns back, Wonwoo lowers his head and calmly closes his locker, locking it in the process. He faces up, looking at Mingyu like he’s about to say something, only to dip his head and walk out. Mingyu stands there. 

What was that about? Wonwoo’s never been that harsh to him, well except when they first met, but a lot has happened since then. He scratches his head, eyes trying to follow the other in the distance but he’s already lost him. Mingyu walks off, confused about what to do, and quickly escapes the rush of people getting out.

***

Another average day. Seungkwan’s walking around the corridors towards his locker, about to pack up his bag and go home, when he spots Vernon in the far distance. He can’t help himself, he runs off to catch up with him, making up some excuse in his head. Not that he would need to, they’re friends. But just to be safe.

As he’s walking up and carefully going over the possible options in his head, he sees Vernon quickly dash off without locking his locker. Seungkwan laughs at the others actions, following up behind him and making sure to lock his locker. He nearly misses Vernon turning the corner towards the senior area, but catches a glimpse of his bright red bag, Seungkwan catching pace after him.

He’s lucky, and catches up enough to see Vernon’s head past the crowd, so he slows his pace. He’s thinking of walking up to him when he sees what he’s doing.

“Why is Vernon in the senior area?”

Questioning, he decides to stay behind and watch what unfolds. Vernon pulls out something familiar, reaching out to a locker. Wonwoo’s locker. After a few moments, he unlocks the locker and puts something in the locker, quickly checking the sides to see no one paying particular attention to him, then tightly shuts the door and locks it. He turns and walks away, a slight skip in his step.

Seungkwan doesn’t know what to think. He can’t…

Vernon?

Vernon was the one leaving gifts for Wonwoo?

Seungkwan can feel his breath hitching, his eyes twinge with moisture as he tries to comprehend what he just saw. No, there’s no way. He was sure…

Seungkwan looks up, now seeing only Wonwoo’s locker and tears fill his vision, but he doesn’t cry. He didn’t expect this, didn’t know this is what would happen. He thought he may have actually had a chance with Vernon, but all this time it was Wonwoo he was after. 

Seungkwan doesn’t know what’s happening, he can’t feel anything. The shock of the turn of events has reached him, but the feelings haven’t. He still hasn’t cried. He finds himself walking, fast, faster, anything just to get away from the senior lockers. He’s across the school now and walking towards the block of toilets, forcing his way into a cubicle and calmly shutting the door. He doesn’t even get to put the lid down and sit on the toilet before his legs make way. He finds himself on the floor, thoughts gathering and falling apart in his head. He doesn’t know what to do, and in any situation he would call Hansol. Any situation but this.

He lets out a sob.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing that part about Seungkwan made me tear up :")  
> Thank you for reading!!


	15. Difficult Resolutions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonwoo and Seungkwan repair each other, Jihoon faces a problem while Seokmin's just scraping by...

His only friend in the kindergarten hasn’t shown up for weeks, and he really misses him. Now he sits alone, outcast by the other kids there. He doesn’t like it. They come up to him and corner him like they did that one time to Mingyu, but now without his best friend, he doesn’t have the courage to stand against them. He lets them bully him all through kindergarten. He comes back to school the next year, thinking they will all be gone but no. They’re there. Waiting for him. He spends the next year, and the following years after that with them, constantly being followed, bullied by the small kids from his childhood. Growing up, forgetting about the small shred of courage he had left that was his once childhood best friend, and growing into the introverted outcast planning to move to a new school in junior year…

***

Wonwoo’s back at school, the events from yesterday afternoon crossing his mind again. He had just gotten out of class and slightly avoided Mingyu before hearing someone crying in the bathroom. He went to check on them, but as he got closer his heart stopped when realising who it was. Seungkwan, for unknown reasons, was crying in the boys bathroom, Wonwoo didn’t know what to do, so he did what any friend should and just comforted him. When Seungkwan stopped, he helped himself up, leaning on Wonwoo for support as Wonwoo lead him out to his own locker. They made small chat while Seungkwan grabbed his books, the sniffling and obvious fake smiles telling Wonwoo that whatever it was, Seungkwan didn’t want to talk about it. Wonwoo felt bad, so he asked Seungkwan if he wanted a coffee, and spent most of the afternoon with him to hopefully cheer him up. He at least saw some smile by the time they went home, but he was still worrying for his friend. What could be so bad that it made Seungkwan barely smile the whole afternoon?

He’s sitting at lunch table, pondering over this when he notices that Seungkwan’s not there. Not with Vernon and Chan that is, who are already seated at the table. He’s pretty sure he’s the only one who knows what happened yesterday, so he takes it upon himself to find Seungkwan, just in case something is still wrong.

“Guys, I’ll be back soon.” They all acknowledge him and move on, Vernon looking a little worried as he leaves.

He walks the hallways, searching the corridors for the younger. He doesn’t see him around, so he tries the sports hall. Not there. Music rooms. Not there either. He’s run around the whole place searching and found no Seungkwan. Every building except for one.

“Fingers crossed.”

He heads over to his old favourite spot, the library, and enters, greeting a familiar face at the counter.

“Hello dear! Haven’t seen you in a while, how are you these days?” Wonwoo’s polite and engages the lady in a conversation, all the while scanning the library for a familiar face. He doesn’t seem to be here, but Wonwoo wants to walk around just in case. He excuses himself from the conversation, bidding farewell to the librarian before conducting a proper search. He walks up and down the aisles, finally breathing a sigh of relief as he spots him, calmly sitting at one of the edges on a spare bean bag. Wonwoo shakes his head and approaches the other.

“Hey, you alright?” Seungkwan jerks a bit before looking up, shoulders relaxing as he realises who it is. He nods and makes space for Wonwoo to join him on the bean bag. Wonwoo proceeds to ask the younger what’s wrong.

Seungkwan’s conflicted. As much as he’s hurt by the fact that Vernon left the gifts for Wonwoo, he didn’t want to hurt Wonwoo. Seungkwan remembered saying it might have been Mingyu, and he knows that he got Wonwoo’s hopes up. Telling him would burst that.

But on the other hand, Wonwoo needs to know, or else the whole he’s digging thinking it’s Mingyu will get bigger and the reveal will be even more heartbreaking. Seungkwan decides that maybe he should tell him, for that sake and for his own breaking heart. He needs to confide in someone, and knowing Wonwoo, he’ll apologise for the event. Not that it’s his fault at all, but Seungkwan would still be consoled hearing apologies from someone.

He looks at Wonwoo, receiving a worried expression back. Here goes nothing.

He tells Wonwoo what happened the afternoon, just before Wonwoo had found him. He watches Wonwoo’s expression as he’s recounting, and before long Wonwoo’s head is pointed towards the ground, emotions unreadable.

It’s a few moments after Seungkwan’s finished, and no words are being exchanged. Seungkwan looks down at the elder, about to apologise when he’s cut off.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, it wasn’t your fault.”

That’s all they both need. Seungkwan, an apology, and Wonwoo, reassurance. They both know they’re hurting, and silently agree to comfort each other, the two easing into a normal conversation and sliding back down on the bean bag, a random book sprawled between them.

“I was so sure he liked you Kwan. So sure.”

“I don’t want to admit, but same. I thought we had something.”

“Well, silver lining is at least he’s into guys? You still have a chance.”

Seungkwan chuckles a bit. “Yeah, I guess that is a silver lining. I wasn’t too sure with him, he could have been asexual too. What about you, how are you going? Sorry I led you to thinking it would be Mingyu.”

“Don’t be, it was too good to be true. Imagine the person you liked always ended up liking you back, that’s just cliché. Sometimes life isn’t cliché.”

“Hey, you know what it is now.”

“Yeah I read up.”

“But don’t worry about Mingyu, I’m sure, sooner or later he’ll realise what he’s looking for is right in front of him.”

“And the same to Vernon.”

The two, starting with a rough conversation full of emotions, end the lunch with light-hearted jokes and a strengthening friendship. Both of them knowing that they wouldn’t let a crush get in the way of their friendship.

But that wouldn’t stop it from getting in the way of other friendships.

***

A firm figure bumps into Minghao as they rush out of the library, looking a bit in a rage. However, it’s nothing to distract Minghao from what he just overheard…

He was just walking around the library, still unable to find that group of boys he saw dancing, when he heard his friend’s name.

“Sorry I led you to thinking it would be Mingyu.”

Mingyu? He wasn’t sure whether it was the same one, so he peeked around the corner, but sure enough he saw that one friend of Mingyu’s, the brown haired one who’s in one of his other classes. He looks friendly, but Minghao’s never had the time to talk to him. He doesn’t mean to, but he ends up eavesdropping on their conversation.

“Don’t be, it was too good to be true. Imagine the person you liked always ended up liking you back, that’s just cliché. Sometimes life isn’t cliché.”

“Hey, you know what it is now.”

“Yeah I read up.”

“But don’t worry about Mingyu, I’m sure, sooner or later he’ll realise what he’s looking for is right in front of him.”

“And the same to Vernon.”

Minghao’s mouth is wide open as he slowly tries to cover it. So Mingyu’s friend had a crush on him. He’s not sure what to think, he’s never really heard of a guy having a thing for another guy, he’s never been exposed to same sex relationship. He silently swears in Chinese, hoping no one around him speaks or heard it, and sinks to the ground a bit, just wrapping his idea around the concept of two guys together. 

Despite that, he knows this isn’t something Mingyu’s friend would want him to tell Mingyu. Instead, he’ll be the best anonymous wingman ever. 

“Just gotta find out that kid’s name…”

***

It’s been ages since Wonwoo left the lunch table, and Vernon’s a bit worried. He knows Wonwoo went looking for Seungkwan, they’ve been quite close lately. When Vernon thinks of that, it creates jealousy in his mind. He decides to go look for them, hoping to catch them on the way back.

He thinks this may be a good time to put Wonwoo’s present in his locker, but then realises the older will have to go to his locker before the end of the day, and he’d rather have him open it in the mornings. In the mornings, it’s always Wonwoo and Mingyu, and he knows Wonwoo gives the chocolate to Mingyu. He’s not upset, in fact he’s glad, it means the gift was accepted. Although writing all those poems takes effort…

He’s walked around everywhere, finally approaching the library. A confused Vernon scans the area, wondering where they could possibly be, when he sees Seungkwan and Wonwoo on the same bean bag, talking and laughing. Vernon doesn’t like it, and he feels jealous. He wants to be the one next to him, making him laugh like that. He walks out, rushing past another on the way out.

***

Later that night, Jihoon’s working on maths when he gets a call from an unknown number.

“Hello? Jihoon speaking.”

“Is that Lee Jihoon?”

“Yes.”

“Hi Jihoon, let me introduce myself. I’m Hwang YuJin, I’m a manager at a current music entertainment company. Every few months or so we advertise and recruit new music composers, producers, you name it. We had a look at your works on SoundCloud and we were quite impressed, considering one of our interns found you. You seem to have natural talent and with a bit of help, we could make you one of the greatest in our company. So in saying that, we would like to offer a place for you here as a composer.”

Jihoon stood in his room, mouth agape and mind running. A composer! This is literally his dream come true. If he wasn’t stil on the phone he’d be jumping on his bed, despite telling everyone he’s not that childish. He’s about to agree right off the bat, but holds himself back.

“Uh, Hi Sir, I’m honestly thrilled you offered this to me, however isn’t there a contract I’d need to sign before joining? Like terms and conditions?”

“Yes there are terms and conditions, however we’ve emailed that out to you. You should have received it in the past 10 minutes. We don’t need a confirmation right away, please do read the details, however we would like one by next week. This was just a message to let you know the email was not spam or fake, and of course to congratulate you.”

Jihoon’s turned around to his computer and furiously got up his email account, scrolling to find the email. Luckily, it’s the first one he sees. He clicks on it.

“112 pages…”

The manager laughs. “Yeah there is a lot. Please, take your time and read through it all, it’s worth the amount. We hope to be seeing you soon Jihoon.” And with that, Jihoon’s left with an empty line.

“A composer…”

His mind is still racing with adrenaline. A couple minutes ago he was just planning to go to college, get a degree of some sort and work. Now, this phone call had opened his mind up to so many opportunities, so many things that he had wanted to do but never thought possible.

About an hour later, homework completely forgotten and lying on his bed, he’s still scrolling through the contract. He was so excited about this but as he’s scrolling through, he’s not too sure what to do. He’d have to fast track school, meaning he wouldn’t graduate his friends. Seems this company like their staff being young and bright. And in saying that, what happens when he gets old? He’d be too busy working for this company to get anything but a music degree at college, he’d have to get a music degree for this. So even if he fast tracked school, he wouldn’t officially start working for a couple years. Was it really worth that?

But as many cons, there were pros. So many benefits, not to mention he’d be doing something he loved. What to choose.

He decided to call on his one rational side.

“Seokmin?”

Seokmin picked up the phone immediately. “Ji, what’s up?”

“I need help with a decision.” Jihoon explains everything about what happened and outlined the contract, telling him what he’d have to do. Seokmin listens, occasionally asking a question but mostly listening.

“Well, it sounds like a tough one, but in these times you have to think what will benefit you in the long run the most. But keep in mind, that doesn’t mean just financially, you need to live too. There’s a chance even if you get a college degree that you won’t find a job, especially not a job that gives you joy. I can’t tell you what to do, it’s not my decision. Just use this week to weigh up your options, and then choose what feels right for you.”

Jihoon’s once again thankful for Seokmin’s advice, despite being the goofiest of them all.

“Thanks Seok, really means something.”

“No problem Ji, hope it all works out.”

Jihoon says goodbye and hangs up the phone, leaving Seokmin lying upside down off his bed. What? He gets bored.

He hears a call from his parents to go down to dinner. Reluctantly, Seokmin drags himself down stairs to see his parents with a stern expression on their faces. Oh no. Report cards were sent back this week.

“Seokmin, sit down please.” His father, stone cold expression asks and gestures towards the seat opposite him. They’ve prepared dinner, but that’s only so they can have a talk with their son. Seokmin walks over and silently pulls out a chair, sitting down and straightening his posture so his mother doesn’t nag him to.

“Son, what did we say last semester?” His father doesn’t bother with politeness, and gets straight to the point. Seokmin really thought he had done well during exams this time, but he guesses not.

“To study well and bring my grades up.”

“Up to what?”

“To all A’s”

His father shakes his head, finally starting to eat his dinner. His mother then does the same, indicating for Seokmin to eat as well. After a bite, his father grabs Seokmin’s report from beside him and gives it to Seokmin. He’s ready to see the worst, but is actually surprised. He seems to have gone up in all his grades, mostly on a B now. He’s happy.

“I’m not happy with your marks. We agreed on A’s, didn’t we?” Of course, his father is not impressed.

“Yes I know, but I managed to raise my grade in all subjects-“

“So? College applicants don’t look for how much you can raise your grade they look for the results. Getting B’s is not going to get the results you want son.”

“I know, I’ll get them up to an A.” He promises hollowly, taking another bitter bite of his dinner.

“You better. You only have this year left, then the actual exams are here. That’s your final lifeline, then it’s the real world.” He reaches across the table and puts his hand on Seokmin’s shoulder. “We just want the best for you. You need to focus on your studies more.”

“Well, if you’ll excuse me then, I have to get back to studying.” He excuses himself from the table, leaping up the stairs two at a time before shutting and locking his door. He immediately curls into his pillow on his bed, not crying just sitting there, blank. What if he doesn’t get there, what if he can’t raise his grade up to A’s? Would he really fail at life then? Would he not be able to go to college?

He sits there contemplating, not knowing what to do. He brings all his homework out, half working through it but not paying attention. That’s it, he can’t do this anymore. Every term he overworks himself and he never gets the grades he wants, even though he tries different methods. Nothing’s ever good enough. That’s when he has an idea. He decides to call some people for help, arranging for a time and place to meet. He hopes if anything, that this will work…

***

“Hey Wonwoo, I need help with English.”

Wonwoo’s more than thrilled to help Seokmin, but when he hears that he needs help with all his subjects, Wonwoo calls in Mingyu. The three start texting and form a plan to study together at the state library on Saturdays. Wonwoo books out a room.

On Saturday, Wonwoo and Seokmin meet up, waiting in the room until Mingyu comes. Wonwoo’s already going through some skills with Seokmin, eventually with Mingyu too, who wants all the help he can get as well. They set up all their computers and books when they hear a knock on the door. Seokmin, being the closest to the door, opens it.

“Hiya!” Vernon walks in, a grin on his face. Chan also walks in, dragging Seungkwan, who seems to be looking bitter. Wonwoo eyes Seungkwan and silently asks him why he’s with Vernon, to which Seungkwan shakes his head as if saying “Long story”. Now with the three youngsters in the room, it’s quite crowded considering it’s a room for 4.

“What are you guys doing here? I booked out the room for only us three-“

“Oh really?” Mingyu asks with a bit of a guilty smile. “Cause I kind of invited someone else.”

Another knock on the door and Wonwoo opens it, praying to god it isn’t who he thinks it is. It’s not Minghao (thank god), it’s Jihoon, who’s looking like he hasn’t slept in a week.

Mingyu turns around. “Jihoon! How’d you find us?”

“I was following these kids.” Pointing to Vernon, Chan and Seungkwan. “I tried calling them and they didn’t answer, so I went to talk to them instead.”

Wonwoo scratches his head. “Wait so Mingyu didn’t invite you?”

“No I didn’t invite Ji, I invited-“

There’s another knock and Wonwoo, still at the door from before, opens to a shy face. He has half a mind to slam the door.

“Hi, I’m Xu Minghao, I’m in one of your-“

“Yeah I know, I’ve seen you. Welcome, this is everyone.” Wonwoo, currently done with the situation of the room nonchalantly shoves him in and slams the dor. “Ok, is that the last of the people in here?” Everyone stays quiet, so he assumes that there’s no one else coming.

“Now, I don’t know what you’re all doing here, but Mingyu and I came to study with Seokmin. If you are not going to study, leave now.” He was more hoping that Minghao would leave, just because this may turn into another “let’s see how jealous Wonwoo gets” fest, and he doesn’t want that to distract him.

Now there’s 8 of them in a room meant for half, but they managed to squash in. Seokmin, Mingyu and Wonwoo are up one end of the table, occupying two seats, Jihoon’s sitting on the floor in the corner on his phone while Seungkwan and Vernon are taking up the other 2 seats, awkwardly looking anywhere but each other. Hansol still doesn’t know what’s wrong, but he knows Seungkwan’s not being himself lately.

Meanwhile, Chan’s sitting on the floor closest to the door, and Minghao decides to join him.

“Hi, I’m Xu Minghao.”

“Oh hi, I’m Lee Chan. I’m a junior.”

“Oh! Are some of you juniors?”

“Yeah, those two as well.” He points to the awkward duo. “If you’re friends with Mingyu, why hasn’t he asked you to join us at lunch.”

Minghao laughs. “He has, and he’s persistent, but I said no. I was looking for this dance group I saw on the first day, I’d like to dance with them.”

“You dance! What style? How long for? What’s your favourite?” Chan, immediately bombarding Minghao with questions seemed to scare the older for a bit, before he laughs again.

“B-boy. You seem to like dance-“

“I love it. I grew up around it, my parents were dancers, and actually the group of boys you saw I may know them because I used to dance with them. Although, mum’s stopped me from dancing until my grades get better, which is why Wonwoo’s tutoring me in English.”

“Then shouldn’t you be up there with them and not on the floor with me?” 

Chan contemplates, looking up at the studying trio then back to Minghao. “Nah, I’d prefer to talk to you. So, where’d you learn? Maybe we could dance together one day?”

Chan and Minghao get along famously after that, talking about dancing and potential meet-ups to see what the other can do. Mingyu looks over and proudly smiles at Minghao making friends, especially with someone as lively as Chan. Although it’s a feeling of pride, to Wonwoo the smile Mingyu gives looks like admiration for the kid, and it makes Wonwoo incredibly jealous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi  
> So yes I realised I was supposed to add this last week  
> I forgot  
> so instead I'll post this week and next week  
> also sorry if this one is bland, it's more filler to wait and see what happens  
> thank you for reading :)


	16. Everything's In The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A friendship salvaged, a friendship ruined and a tragic backstory...

Vernon notices the packed study room, and a painfully obvious Seungkwan who avoids eye contact with him. Vernon just looks at Seungkwan, unimpressed, waiting for Seungkwan to look at him. It takes a while but finally Seungkwan flicks a look at the younger, then seeing him looking back at him, goes back to staring at the wall. Fed up, Vernon gets up, tapping Chan and nodding his head to the chairs as he walks over to Seungkwan’s side. He pulls Seungkwan off the chair and sees Chan and Minghao take their chairs as a struggling Seungkwan tries to object Vernon’s strength. Everyone ignores this.

Vernon drags Seungkwan out of the library, aware that he’s making too much noise to stay there, and decides to veer off to the nearest park. Seungkwan, seeing it’s now useless to try, complies and follows behind Vernon, shrugging his arm off. Vernon reaches a park bench and sits on the edge of it, Seungkwan still standing as Vernon’s head falls into his hands.

“What’s wrong?” Vernon mumbles, head still down and staring at the ground in confusion. “You haven’t talked to me in days, you don’t reply to my texts, it’s like you’re screaming that you’re angry at me. What did I do?”

Seungkwan turns away, not facing Vernon, and paces back and forth a bit. He doesn’t know what to say, because telling the truth means him confessing. He looks at Vernon to see his piercing eyes already staring at him, asking forgiveness. This is why he fell for him, even without knowing what he did wrong, Vernon was ready to do anything to make up for it. The compassion hit Seungkwan hard, making what he said next an unconscious decision.

“I saw you giving Wonwoo those gifts, and I got jealous because…” He faltered, not brave enough to look at Vernon, but he can hear him move. Before he knows it, Seungkwan’s closer to Vernon than he’s been before, as Vernon’s arms are now around him in a hug. Despite being best friends, they never physically got real close. Seungkwan’s about to lean his head on Vernon’s shoulder when the other leans back, looking straight into Seungkwan’s eyes.

“You got jealous because?”

He tilts his head, and Seungkwan’s not sure what to say. He’s scared for the reaction Vernon will give, scared that if he says it, the warm arms wrapped around him will never be there anymore. However, he knows Vernon, and he knows his friend won’t run off because of this, so he takes a calm breath, deciding to say it before he changes his mind.

“Because I like you.”

The reaction is better than expected. Not only does Vernon smile at this, but he hugs Seungkwan tighter. Seungkwan’s confused and pushes him away, earning a look from Vernon.

“You aren’t… you know, creeped out?”  
He shakes his head. “I like you too Seung-“

“Hold the fuck up.” Seungkwan points at Vernon. “What is this? I saw you putting the gifts in Wonwoo’s locker though, why else would you do that unless you like him?”

Vernon’s immediately on the floor laughing. Seungkwan lets him have his moment before tapping his foot for an explanation. Vernon gets back up, eyes bright and smile wide. “It wasn’t meant to be from me, it was meant to act as a gift from Mingyu. Chan, Jihoon and I all had a bet on the two getting together, and I bet they would get together in Senior year. It’s senior year now, so I’m trying to better out my chances. So far, I’m pretty sure the love birds will get together soon, but then again never can be sure-“

“So wait, you don’t have a crush on Wonwoo?”

“God no. I was already falling for someone before I met him.” Vernon looks down as Seungkwan realises he meant him. Seungkwan can feel the blush on his cheeks, and he reaches over to peck Vernon’s cheek.

***

The next day, it’s lunch and Vernon and Seungkwan are back to being tight as ever. They haven’t told anyone everything that happened, but all in due time.

Meanwhile, Mingyu and Wonwoo are side by side, and Vernon nudges Seungkwan.

“Just tell me they won’t get together this year!”

Seungkwan spectates the situation, watching them be unconsciously flirty, and nods his head. “Yeah, I already know Wonwoo’s hooked, which means Mingyu…”

“Mingyu what?”

“Nothing. But I bet they’ll get together next year.”

Vernon throws his hands up. “WHAT! What do you mean, now you’re just siding with Jihoon!”

Seungkwan surrenders. “None of them will admit it to each other, Wonwoo’s not the type and if Mingyu likes him back then he probably wouldn’t want to ruin the friendship, so I suggest a confession at graduation… and then they get together next year!”

Vernon nods his head in agreement. “Yeah… now that you say that it does sound more likely. God damnit.” He shakes his head while Seungkwan sits there, impressed of his own intellect.

“Well anyways, now we just have to wait.”

***

From that lunch it was clear to everyone, except of course Mingyu and Wonwoo themselves, that everyone had bet on when they would get together. Chan, already having lost, bet junior year, Vernon bet Senior year, and Seokmin, Jihoon and Seungkwan bet first year at college. Now for the fun part.

During their next couple of lunches together, people would leave at different intervals, eventually leaving just the two at the table. Chan always left first, followed by Vernon and Seungkwan, and then Jihoon went with Seokmin offering to help with something. Mingyu and Wonwoo would also offer, but get shot down, and eventually just stay talking.

This didn’t happen just at lunch. If the boys went to the library to study, it would always end up with those two. Not that others left the library, but Seungkwan had booked another room and left the two by themselves. Wonwoo, starting to notice there were a lot more incidents with just him and MIngyu, begun to arouse suspicion. Not that he wasn’t glad, because he was. It gave him time with Mingyu without any new distracting students, however it made him feel uneasy.

On a particular study day towards the upcoming exams, the incident happened again and everyone had left Wonwoo and Mingyu in their own study room and gone off to another. Wonwoo, thanking them but still feeling suspicious, went to sit by Mingyu when the door opened again. And in walked the new student.

He had to.

“Minghao! Hi, how was your weekend?!” Mingyu of course acts like a puppy and starts bombarding the Chinese with questions, as if he hadn’t seen him in forever. 

He saw him on Friday. It was currently Sunday.

“I’m good thanks Gyu.” Gyu? Now he was calling him a nickname? “But why are you guys not sitting with your usual group?” What did he- wait what?

“What do you mean normal group?”

Minghao shifts his focus to Wonwoo to answer. “You know, Chan’s group, and the two other Seniors. They’re in the room down the corridor.” Mingyu and Wonwoo both look at each other, surprised and confused. Wonwoo gets up, knowing something was wrong, and leaves Mingyu with Minghao.

***

He walks down the library’s corridors and finally confirms what Minghao described. Inside is everyone else, even Jihoon, who said he had to go to a meeting. Wonwoo knocks on the door, hiding so they don’t see him in fear of preventing him in.

“Who’s there-“

“What’s going on?”

The door flew open to a welcoming Seungkwan and an irritated Wonwoo. Seungkwan and the rest of the group in the foreign room all look down, guilty, before Seungkwan steps out and closes the door behind him.

“Look, Wonwoo, we wanted to give you a chance with…”

Clockworks tick, and Wonwoo knows what’s going on, but he’s still irritated.

“So not only do you think I need or want help, you thought it best to hide from us? You know it looks like you’re just avoiding us, it’s kind of hurtful. Next time think and maybe tell the person you’re constantly running away from.” Wonwoo turns around, not planning to give Seungkwan the time of day to explain. He instead forges out, unaware he’s made a scene but not really caring. 

Once outside, he goes for a walk around the block, only to realise he’s walked much further than the block. He continues walking, already put his earphones in and playing a favourite song of his on high. He’s walking over the bridge when he realises where he’s going, back to that spot in the rainforest where he talked with Mingyu and Vernon. It doesn’t take him much longer, considering he not only memorised the path and is also walking a fast pace, being frustrated and all.

He sits down, admiring the view of how picture perfect nature can be compared to real life. He recalls what happened at the state library and feels a bit guilty, he shouldn’t have been that harsh on Seungkwan. Seungkwan wasn’t the one his anger was vented at. Minghao had just arrived and the fact that Wonwoo was already so jealous of him didn’t help when Mingyu was the one who kept inviting him. Wonwoo could see Mingyu’s eyes light up when Minghao came, and he knew the look. That used to be the look Mingyu gave Wonwoo. And he misses it.

No, he misses Mingyu.

He fully knows of his feelings towards the taller, he’s accepted by now, but it doesn’t make it easier. In fact it just makes things harder. If he didn’t like Mingyu this much, he wouldn’t be this jealous over Mingyu’s new friendship. But now that it’s displayed for him every time they have class, the jealousy comes back every time and keeps building up. Who he really needed to speak his mind to was MIngyu, not Seungkwan. He feels bad, but he’ll apologise tomorrow.

He sits in his thoughts for a while, not really caring if anyone found him, but wanting one particular person to. Even though he knows he won’t.

***

It’s Monday, half way through the term, and Mingyu’s at a loss. He hasn’t seen Wonwoo since Minghao broke the news to them yesterday and he stormed out of the study room. After that, he continued to study with Minghao, getting a lot done and being able to teach him a lot too. It had only been a couple weeks since they first met, but his speech kept on improving, Before Mingyu knew it, they were laughing about inside jokes and texting each other memes.

Although he loved his new friend, he couldn’t help but feel as though Wonwoo was growing distant every day. And now he’s not at lunch. Well, wasn’t at lunch, lunch had just finished, and everyone was walking to class. Maybe he wasn’t here today, that’s why.

Although that’s not the case, for when Mingyu walks into class he sees him, already sat down and ready for class. Mingyu passes him, questioningly giving him a look but dismissing himself as Wonwoo doesn’t pay attention. He gets ready for the lesson, sitting next to Minghao and pushing thoughts of Wonwoo back.

The thought of Wonwoo avoiding him is insane, but Mingyu just can’t shake it. Whatever it is, it’s affecting Wonwoo, and he wants to know that his best friend is ok. He runs after his last class to the lockers, hoping to find Wonwoo. He waits around seeing people leave, but doesn’t see Wonwoo, meaning he probably missed him. He wants to go around to his place, but decides to check one last spot before leaving school. He walks down to the library, hoping Wonwoo is here. He bows to the librarian after entering and immediately heads to the corner. He doesn’t even get there before seeing a familiar figure scanning the shelves. He breathes a sigh of relief, knowing his friend is safely in the library, and walks up to him to talk. Wonwoo, lost in his own world, jumps when Mingyu first talks to him.

“Hey Won.” He looks back, although he knows who it is. His shoulders slightly deflate, as if Mingyu put some extra weight on his shoulders, and he goes back to scanning the shelves. Mingyu, confused, taps his shoulder. “Wonwoo, what’s wrong? You weren’t with us at lunch, and I didn’t even get to walk with you this morning.”

Wonwoo turns around, back to the bookshelf and facing Mingyu. “Nothing, I’m just a bit busy. Don’t worry about it-“ He falters as Mingyu grips his shoulders, coming incredibly close to the smaller, who’s face is a tinge of red.

“Don’t tell me not to worry about it. I know something is wrong. It’s not just today, it’s been happening for weeks, ever since this term started. You were fine on vacation, is it just school? Or is it something more…” Mingyu pleads with his eyes, making Wonwoo feel guilty, but he couldn’t possibly tell Mingyu. He doesn’t have the courage to come out and say something like he’s jealous because he has a crush on Mingyu. And he doesn’t want Mingyu running away from him. 

So instead he goes for the fall back plan.

”Just leave me alone.”

A final push releases him from Mingyu’s grip as he walks out the door.

***

The place fills with cheers as Minghao does what he knows best. He let’s the music guide him as he breaks free of the quiet Chinese kid stereotype, and instead expresses himself through dance. Many kids have gathered around to see the senior vs junior dance. Minghao vs Chan, just a friendly competition. None of them have yet seen what the other can do, so it was an interesting opportunity for both. Chan glides across the stage, his persona coming off as stronger, more powerful, yet graceful. Minghao dances with a much different vibe and style from him, going for tricks, a crowd pleaser. Both are having a great time, battling against the other. It just reminds Minghao of his past…

***  
Minghao was always small. Smaller and thinner than the rest. He couldn’t gain much weight, nor could he do extreme activities, he was too frail. Not many kids talked to him at school, he only had a few friends who would approach him, and even then they had other friends to sit with. His mother, always being worried about him, decided to try helping him by enrolling him in dance classes. Contemporary dance, jazz, acro, but he never really paid attention and just found it boring.

That is until one afternoon, coming out from class a bit late due to the teacher, he walked home. A few streets away from his dancing building, there was a small area under a mini bridge, secluded enough but public enough that anyone could watch. The floor was concrete, but the atmosphere of the group changed everything. Minghao couldn’t walk further, instead he just watched these big kids dance, do flips and tricks he’d always wanted to try.

This happened for a couple weeks, after class Minghao would go and watch the kids dancing, until one of the kids who had noticed him previously came up to him.

“Pretty fun isn’t it?” Minghao nodded his head. “Why don’t you come down. We’ll show you a couple things.”

Minghao followed the other down and introduced himself. The group of kids were all surprisingly nice, and offered to show him cool new things. He was 10 years old dancing with a bunch of 15-18 year olds, yet he finally felt like he found people to connect with. One of the girls there was his favourite, always coming up to him and showing him something new. He practiced, over and over again, and it wasn’t long before Minghao started skipping the dance classes his mom paid for, and instead walked to the cove.

Years passed, Minghao’s mom found out about him not going to dance classes and initially got angry, but after seeing Minghao’s improved confidence and stamina, let it go. It had already been 5 years he had been dancing with them, and now all of them were in university. Now, he’d be having dance battles with them and finally be able to keep up, sometimes surpassing. Even at school, he found a group of kids interested in dance and had started teaching them, some of them having their own tricks to show, and before he knew it he was undoubtedly included in a group.

It wasn’t until his mom and dad started fighting did anything go downhill.

Well, not start fighting, but escalate it. He always knew as a child that his dad was stronger than his mom, but it wasn’t until he was around 12 when he started to realise how bad the situation was. His dad would come home in a bad mood and take it out on his mom, daily. Minghao didn’t understand why until around 3 years later, when he found out about the illegal activities his father was involved in. The reason for it, he didn’t know, but what he did know was that he didn’t want to be a part of it, and he didn’t want his mother to be either. When he was young, Minghao was introduced to money during a dance battle, the big kids took him out and danced for money, more often than not earning some. Minghao thought it would be fun, and started joining in on this, only realising after losing his very first match that he’d have to pay. One of the big kids stepped up to pay for him, but after that they started properly showing him how to battle, and before he knew it he was earning something from it. It wasn’t until later that he started seriously saving up, saving up so he could get his mom out of there.

Then one afternoon, his mom was sitting on the floor of their kitchen, weeping with sorrow. She looked up at her son, now 17 years old, but Minghao didn’t have to ask anything. It was time. He left her on the floor, ran up to his room and started packing. After throwing in anything he could and making sure he had his passport, he helped his mom to her room, quickly wiping her tears and packing anything she wanted. It was a race against time, for he knew his dad would come home any minute. He threw their luggage into the back seat of their old car, put mom in and strapped himself in. He didn’t need to check his bank account, he had been saving up for this. All those extra jobs around the suburb and nights spent dancing away were leading to this. He drove up the airport, asking around for the next flight out, international, spending hours waiting for customs, but it was worth it. His mother, now fully aware of what was happening, stayed silently thanking him as he hugged her for comfort. 

It wasn’t until hours later, when they were strapped in on the next plane, when Minghao finally felt safe. He did it. He got his mom out of there. They were alright…

***

“You’re really good!” Chan comes up to him, ruffling through his sweaty hair, making the juniors swoon. “You’re much more of a street style, but still dancing all the same.”

“Not too bad yourself.” Chan chuckles at that as Minghao punches his shoulder. The crowd’s died down now that the dancing’s stopped, but the two dancers huff and talk to each other about where they learnt.

“So you learnt underground?” Minghao nods. “Nice, did you battle like what we just did?”

“Yeah, but in my town we did it for money.”

“What!” Chan’s eyes light up. “You can do that! That can be like, my new job.”

Minghao laughs at that. “Despite being a good dancer, you might not find battling so easy.” 

The two boys start walking back to class as Chan clings onto Minghao’s arm. “You could teach me then, right?” Minghao looks down and sees the puppy eyes the younger is giving him, but unfortunately has to decline.

“Sorry, I don’t think I’m good at teaching.” Chan pouts at that, which gets Minghao thinking. “However, I do have a friend…”

“Oh who! Are they a dancer! Do they teach?” Chan’s jumping up and down which startles Minghao before he starts laughing. 

“Yes they dance and yes they teach, he’s in college now studying dance. I met him while battling, he was one of the only few who beat me but afterwards we decided to keep in touch. We danced together for a bit before he moved here and well, I ended up moving here too.”

“That was touching. It’s a small world.”

“Yes it is.”

Minghao stays silent until Chan pokes him. “Well? Who is he?”

“His name is Soonyoung.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, hopefully this makes up for last week's filler  
> also i sense some meanie tension  
> thanks for reading :)


	17. Hopes and Uncertainties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonwoo overcomes himself, jealousy plays up, some hard decisions are made and Seokmin gets a bit stressed...

As a kid, Mingyu was shy. It wasn’t until after he met Wonwoo did he start to have confidence. With Wonwoo, anything was possible, he could play in the sandpit, and he could stand up to those bullies. He started to grow more and more confident, always with Wonwoo by his side. When Mingyu left, he didn’t understand it, and simply thought he was on vacation. He never realised as his memory slowly clouded over Wonwoo’s existence with every passing year, until eventually the only thing he had left of Wonwoo was his self-confidence. He used that to meet his new friends, ones that without knowing, would replace the memories he once had stored for his childhood friend.

***

Wonwoo shouldn’t do it. He shouldn’t just ignore everything. But that was the only way he could cope with what happened between him and Mingyu. After the brief events of yesterday, he went home and sulked on his bed for what seemed hours, not too sure who he was sulking for. This morning he got up early and made sure to avoid Mingyu on the way to school again. He couldn’t face him. He doesn’t like drawing attention to himself this way, but he doesn’t want to talk about it. If he did, he knows one way or another the truth would come out, the big truth, and he wasn’t sure about Mingyu’s reaction. That was one aspect of his best friend he didn’t understand yet.

Constantly checking for any signs of Mingyu, he finds himself speed walking to his locker, emptying his bag, grabbing his books and veering off to his favourite known place in a site full of anxiety, the library. Why the library? He knows the answer. Even as he’s walking there he feels guilty for what happened and knows that he doesn’t want to see Mingyu, but deep down, he does. He does want to see Mingyu, he does want to tell him everything, he does want to see the reaction of his best friend and know that he’s important to Mingyu. That’s why he goes to the library. Because he knows, if there’s a slight chance that Mingyu made the effort to come early and look for him, his first thought would be the library, because Mingyu knows him.

But Wonwoo also knows Mingyu. And he knows Mingyu’s feelings aren’t the same.

He knows he’s breathing in false hope.

***

The same happens at lunch, Wonwoo stashes away to the library for a good book, losing himself in it until the librarian warns him of the time. He missed this, being stuck in a book without any interences, but he also missed Mingyu. God, why does it always come back to Mingyu. Wonwoo could literally think of anything and have a good link back to Mingyu. That’s just how it is. He’s smart and rational enough to know what he should be doing to stop these thoughts appearing, but he’s also petty enough to not do it. 

That is until a few days later, when he literally can’t stop reading the same page over again, just because he can’t concentrate. He huffs a sigh, placing the book back in the shelf and waving a farewell to the kind librarian. He shuffles up to the cafeteria, where he knows his friends will be eating. Before joining them, he sees them laughing and having fun, and he gives a slight smile. He was being idiotic, he shouldn’t have left them just for this. They seem to be having good conversation when Wonwoo looks over to Mingyu, and the same feelings of regret, grief, anger and pure missing him flood over Wonwoo. He steels his breath and briskly walks over, Chan being the first to notice him and smiles with a bright wave. Wonwoo can’t help but give a small grin at that, to which others are turning around and noticing who Chan spotted. Upon sight, Seungkwan jumps up and runs to Wonwoo, attacking Wonwoo with a hug until Wonwoo finds himself whisked away.

“I am SO SO SORRY about what happened! And I promise never to meddle with your love life again and never to think you need help with that or never to do something like that behind your back but in my defense I was just trying to help you get along and then maybe a bit close and I-“

“Seungkwan calm down.” Wonwoo looks at his friend and chuckles. “I’m not angry at you. I wanted to apologise too. I’ve been a bit irritated lately, and I took it all out on you, even though you were not the main recipient of my pent up anger. Sorry.”

Seungkwan beams at him and dives in for another suffocating hug. He finally releases Wonwoo with a smile, before his expression turns sour quick. “But why are you irritated? Something wrong?”

Wonwoo brushes it off. “Nothing really, nothing I really know how to explain.” Seungkwan gives a nod, and they both proceed to go to the table, Wonwoo still a bit cautious because of his actions. He’s still embarrassed to see Mingyu, especially after actively avoiding him, but he’ll have to face it.

He sits down with an awkward grimace as the table conversation starts up again. And Mingyu sits opposite him, so close, yet very distant.

***

After the events on the weekend at the library, Minghao kept close tabs on Mingyu, making sure he was ok. On the Sunday he seemed ok, on the Monday a bit tense. It was Tuesday that was bad, and the day after that, and the next, and he could see it taking a toll on Mingyu. He wondered at first what was wrong, but after seeing Wonwoo and Mingyu not talking, and much worse, avoiding talking, he got the general idea. It’s not his place, but for some reason Minghao felt incredibly sorry for the two, knowing full well that Mingyu misses Wonwoo, and from overhearing that conversation between Wonwoo and Seungkwan, he knows Wonwoo also misses Mingyu. So why are they not talking?

It’s a bit over Minghao’s head if he’s honest, he never really had the friend kind of drama, only the family kind. Which isn’t any better.

The following week, on a lunch where he wasn’t busy dancing with Chan (the two getting very close because of it but deciding to take a break), Minghao finds some familiar people to sit with at lunch. He knows where Mingyu sits, but he decides not to sit with him just this lunch, as he may need some time away. Minghao’s been constantly talking to him and texting him the past week, of course it was only in his best intentions, just to make sure that Mingyu was ok, but without context, Mingyu may start thinking he’s annoying. It’s better to give him space for now.

He’s caught up in the conversation, so much so that he misses Wonwoo’s entrance the first time, however the racket that Wonwoo’s friend makes (Seungkwan, if he remembered correctly), has him turning his head and observing the timid boy approaching Mingyu’s table. This would be the first time since that Sunday where he would see the two interacting. He can see over some shoulders that Wonwoo’s a bit tense as he sits down. Minghao decides to keep tabs on them, but he doesn’t need to be a genius to see the tension from Mingyu to Wonwoo. The two, barely talking, seem to preoccupy themselves, Wonwoo talking to Jihoon and Mingyu talking to anyone he can. Minghao feels bad, wanting to go over but mentally slaps himself. Give him some space.

This is something he and Wonwoo need to sort out. And soon. Mingyu’s grades may fall due to his lack of motivation now, and who knows what that could lead to in senior year.

***

“Oh yeah Jihoon, how’s Seungcheol going?”

Jihoon laughs maniacally before his laughter dies and he slumps against the table. “He’s fine. Great actually. He’s living the life. There’s living proof college is better than this hell.” Sounding drained of all life, Jihoon continues to whine about everything Seungcheol’s been sending him from his new fantastic college life, including the two close friends he mentioned earlier, along with a couple other names popping in and out. “Why do we have to suffer now? Can’t we just, I don’t know, skip forward or something?”

People around are talking, Jihoon not entirely sure whether they’re taking him serious, until he spots Chan waving over his head. Jihoon turns to look at Wonwoo, who is currently walking towards them, before Seungkwan races over that is and whisks him away. They continue talking, everyone still remembering what happened that day at the library. They all heard Wonwoo speaking to Seungkwan, he was right outside the door, and they all felt kind of guilty for it, but Jihoon knew Wonwoo better than that. He knew it wasn’t just this incident that was annoying him.

Seungkwan’s finally finished with Wonwoo and they walk over, Wonwoo looking a bit embarrassed but comfortable all the same. Wonwoo sits down next to Jihoon, still talking with Seungkwan before finishing their conversation shortly, which Jihoon takes the opportunity.

“You ok?”

Wonwoo nods. “Sorry about the other day, I was angry at you guys for no reason-“

“That’s not true, and I’m sorry about what happened, but tell me,” He makes sure Wonwoo’s looking at him and listening, “It’s because of something else, isn’t it?”

Wonwoo heaves a sigh. “How’d you know?”

Jihoon nudges him. “You’re my friend, I should know these things.” He looks around before moving closer to Wonwoo. “So, what’s up?” Wonwoo doesn’t answer before Jihoon guesses. “Mingyu, right? And Minghao-“

“How did you know?” Wonwoo, genuinely puzzled, stares at a smirking Jihoon.

Jihoon pushes his shoulder. “I told you, you’re my friend. And I know about your feelings for him, so obviously he would be on your mind…”

Wonwoo’s shoulders slump at that. “Is it really that obvious?” Jihoon shakes his head before Wonwoo makes another sigh. “Well, I guess I’ll tell you, it’s easier to talk to someone about this.” Despite Mingyu sitting right across from Wonwoo, he felt good finally getting it off his chest to someone.

“It started when I was late to a class. Mingyu’s in that class, and so is Minghao. As I was late I didn’t end up sitting with Mingyu and Minghao, but in the space opposite them, so I could see them together through the whole class. I was jealous on the first day, just because Minghao seemed to be chatting him up, but I thought I’d just switch seats next week, before the teacher told us to stay in our seats for the semester. So now every class I just watch them be friendly while I sit across the classroom. It would’ve stopped there, if Mingyu hadn’t started inviting Minghao to every fricken thing we had planned, so now it feels like he’s apart of our group and that he’s Mingyu’s best friend and-“

“Interjection.” Wonwoo hums. “Do you not like Minghao, or do you not like Mingyu’s attention not being on you?”

“I…” Wonwoo sits and thinks about that. If he were to step away and assess Minghao, he’d say he’s fun to talk to based on what he’s heard. “I don’t dislike him, I barely know him.”

“So you’re not angry that Minghao has stolen Mingyu, you’re angry that Mingyu’s been stolen from you.”

“Yeah I guess.”

“Which means you’re incredibly jealous.” Wonwoo rolles his eyes.

“Wow thanks Ji, didn’t see that one coming.”

Jihoon laughs. “Geez, sorry for being captain obvious. I just wanted to make sure you knew you didn’t hate Minghao.” Jihoon watches the thought register over Wonwoo’s face before quickly saying, “You know what? I think you should become friends with Minghao.”

“What?”

“Become friends with Minghao.”

“Why?”

Jihoon smirks again. “If you’re friends with him, then Mingyu won’t have to hang out with either him or you, he could hang out with you both at the same time. Think about it.”

The lunch bell goes off, and Wonwoo can’t help but question the proposal. What’s so bad about becoming Minghao’s friend?

***

Mingyu can see Jihoon and Wonwoo across the table, and Mingyu’s not going to lie, he wishes he was in Jihoon’s place. Despite being gone for a considerable time, Wonwoo and Jihoon pick up as if everything were perfect between them.

He can’t say the same for himself.

Ever since that day Wonwoo said that in the library, Mingyu’s been on the fence about what he meant. Did he mean it in just a general way, aimed towards everyone? Or did he mean it more personally? Mingyu, with all his heart, wanted to believe the general way, but something he couldn’t shake off told him that it was personal. He knew Wonwoo well enough to know when he was angry, and at the moment in time, he had a certain tone that he’d never come across before. Something wasn’t right with him and Wonwoo, personally.

And now he’s off socialising with Jihoon as if they’re best friends.

Jealous? No. Of course Mingyu’s not jealous, he knows he’s Wonwoo’s best friend. Right?

Mingyu can’t help but doubt his position as Wonwoo’s best friend. He knows they were drifting apart, but without talking to Wonwoo, he won’t be able to see why that was. He needed to talk with him, alone, but he couldn’t seem to find the opportunity. At lunch he was talking to Jihoon, then on the way to class he dashed out of Mingyu’s eyesight, and by the time class had started, Mingyu saw Wonwoo come in talking to the teacher, meaning he had no possible chance to talk to him. It seemed despite Wonwoo coming back, he still didn’t want to talk to Mingyu.

This lasts for longer than Mingyu expected, the weeks passing by as he and Wonwoo haven’t spoken like best friends again. Of course there are those times where they make small talk or are put in the same group for an assignment, but other than that and lunch, he doesn’t see Wonwoo outside at all. They don’t even walk to school together.

Mingyu tried gaining the courage to ask why, but Wonwoo only replied with a brief answer, saying he found a quicker way from his house so that he can sleep in. If so, why does he have dark circles under his eyes? Mingyu finds himself worrying about it, but knowing full well that he can’t do much.

Instead he focuses on having a good time with Minghao. Him and Minghao have really become good friends, to the point where Mingyu was thinking of inviting him over to stay the night. He’s heard about Minghao’s single mom, and thought it only be kind to offer him a place to stay some nights throughout the term. Without realising, he’s slowly incorporated Minghao into his close circle of friends.

One of the nights he’s sleeping over, they’re busy working on assignments for their upcoming due date. They casually talk, helping each other out with various things and Mingyu is reminded of the same thing happening last year, with Wonwoo. He looks at the Chinese, who is carefully writing out his assessment, when a thought pops into Mingyu’s head.

“Hey Minghao, I know you said earlier you wanted to find a dance group, but since you found Chan now, how about sitting with us when you two aren’t dancing?”

Minghao beams at that, still wondering whether he was annoying Mingyu at times. “Sure, 

The next day, Mingyu finds Minghao’s locker and walks with him to the cafeteria. They continue talking until they reach the table, so it isn’t weird when Minghao sits down, instead he receives welcomes from the group he occasionally studied with. Minghao plans to talk to the others, but Mingyu ropes him into a conversation every chance he gets, Minghao gladly obliging to participate but definitely noticing how much of his attention is directed specifically at Minghao.

And Wonwoo notices too.

***

The weeks pass, and, due to the short term, exams are already upon them. The last couple of weeks became a stalemate between Minghao, Mingyu and Wonwoo, the tension still there between Mingyu and Wonwoo while Wonwoo questioned his idea to become Minghao’s friend. Now that Minghao’s sitting with them, surprise, he contemplates it even more.

The boys all push petty drama aside and focus on their exams. They’re nearing graduation soon, and it’s only just starting to dawn on them, of course except for the young ones. Most of them spend the week fretting about their grades, despite all of them passing their classes, however they all subconsciously agree to study alone. 

The week of exams start, and Wonwoo knows it’s only going to get more nerve wracking from here. He files into the exam room, his maths exam being the first exam, and sits down at a table. He tries calming his nerves, but it only makes him more jittery, as he remembers what happened last year. Mingyu turning around and saying reassuring words to him passes through his mind, to the point where he forgets what he’s about to get himself into for now. Well, it’s the first of many more…

***

Jihoon’s freaking out, but not because of exams. Exams are passed and done. He’s more worried about the letter he’s half composed to the entertainment company. Half composed meaning he’s written who it’s to. Despite thinking it over and over, he’s still not sure what his choice is. There’s something he wants to do with the underlying fear of it not being what he needs, and something he needs to do also accompanied with the underlying fear that it’s not what he wants. Too many elements to consider and too little time.

But despite all this, Jihoon’s used to being quite a logical person, and knowing himself, he knows he’s already subconsciously picked a route. He doesn’t like it, but in a month-long battle of brain versus heart, he knows what will happen.

Jihoon, taking more time and mulling everything over in his head, finds his hands typing without connecting the dots. He takes a bit before finishing and reading over his email and smiling. Typing it out seemed to be a bit relieving for him, but it’s done. Before he questions it for another 4 hours, he hits the send button and slumps in his chair. Now for the reply.

He feels bad, knowing what he’s going to give up, but he knows he needs to do this. It’s for the best.

He’s not going to give up music. He’s just, going to postpone it.

***

Seokmin’s nervous. This week is back to school, which means one thing. Reports. He’s nervous that he won’t get the marks he wants, but he knows that he tried his hardest. He studied with all his might, and he’s hoping it reflects that. After all, he doesn’t want his parents yelling at him anymore, he’s grown up now.

His first day back was fine after he convinced himself to forget about worrying, however on the way back home he started biting his nails. No, he can’t do that. His counsellor said it was just a bad habit but it was a tell-tale sign when he was getting anxious, not that he needed the sign anyways. 

He gets home and goes straight to his bed room, unable to concentrate and just flops on his bed, accidentally falling asleep under the current stress. He seems to be more stressed than before his actual exams. He wakes up to his mother kindly waking him up and asking him to come downstairs for dinner. That’s a shock, she usually just yells at him. He walks down and sees his father, happily whistling as he sits down at the table, also gesturing for Seokmin to sit down. 

“Son, did you have a good day at school?”

He hesitates, before controlling his hands. “Yeah, it was good. How was your day?”

The expression in his father’s face is almost foreign to him. “It was great son, and to top it off, your reports came in the mail.” Seokmin’s face turned white at this. Expecting the worst, he looks up at his father and mother.

His mother beams at him. “Congratulations, Son.” She slides his report across the table. Anticipation getting him, he reaches across for his report. His eyes scan the page as his fears start to lift from his shoulders. 

Biology – A+  
Chemistry – A-  
English – A-  
Geography – A  
History – A-  
Mathematics A – A  
Physical Education – A+  
Spanish – A-

He silently thanks himself for those hard hours of studying, his parents looking at him with pride. “See, I told you, you could do it son. And you did.” His father passes over a look of appease, and Seokmin’s never been happier. He eats his meal well and has a good night’s sleep for the first time in a while, still wondering how he managed to get A’s in everything…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry
> 
> this took
> 
> so long
> 
> also on the note of exams, i have mine next week so i'll be studying more (that's half the reason why it's taken so long)
> 
> also i'm not going to commit to a time to post anymore, i get too stressed and it's going to make me lose motivation, i may post 4 consecutively, i may get writer's block and not post for 10 years (I'm joking) BUT i will finish this, hang with me
> 
> anyways thanks for reading :) and really, it was someone's coment that motivated me to finish this chapter so food for thought :))))))


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